Nanashi Urameshi AU
by Hai Xia
Summary: AU story with a mix of Yu Yu Hakusho characters and my own, but with some different roles from the Nanashi Urameshi trilogy. Set in a fictional fantasy land where humans, elves, demons, and other kind of fantastic creatures exist. Blends in some story lines from the trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

Nanashi woke up groggily, fumbling as she heard her Uncle Chosuke was up before she was. He hated it when she did not have breakfast ready for him. She rolled out of bed and stumbled out of her tiny bedroom at the top of the stairs of her uncle's small house. She heard him roar her name as she pounded her bare feet down the old wooden stairs. She stopped abruptly in the side of the main room that held the kitchen area and the hearth and stove. She did not speak, but quick lit the fire in the hearth.

"Lazy child," he scolded her. She did not bother to look back at him. "As lazy as your mother was." Nanashi made no reaction, knowing if she let him get a rise out of her, he would be harsher with her. "I need to go to the forge and work early. You know that." She had the fire going, and she turned to start cooking up something quick and simple for them to eat. All the while he complained. "Money's been tight ever since my son skipped out on us. The blacksmith forge doesn't make that much money anymore in our small port town. Paying an apprentice when I had a son who should have learned from me instead," he grumbled.

Silently, Nanashi served him breakfast silently and docily. Nanashi thought about Yusuke, wishing he was still here with. He had run off when he was seventeen, having come of age in their small Southern port town of Sarayashiki. That had been a year and a half ago. Growing up with him, about two years older than her, had been a ray of sunshine on her dismal life those far.

As they ate, her uncle droned on and on again about her mother. He liked to do this when he was annoyed with her. Nanashi just kept silent and ate quickly, so she could run off to the tavern by the dockside she worked at. "Atsuko," he said her name like a swear word. "Showing up here in the middle of the night nearly seventeen years ago. Sick, looking like a drowned rat pregnant, and could hardly remember a single thing she been up to the for the two years she had been missing. Thought she had run off with some sailor. More like she had gotten sick of whoring, especially out to demons." Uncle Chosuke was looking at her, trying to see if she would crack at this. She was almost finished eating. She kept thinking about seeing her boss and only friend in town, Haruto. Thinking about him kept her calm. "Comes crawling back in the middle of the night, and your aunt, her sister, and my wife refused to turn her away. Atsuko didn't deserve a sister like Yuiko." His rambling meanness had become a double edged sword. He had worked his way into remembering his dead wife. "Atsuko died shortly after having you, but not before she got Yuiko sick with that illness she dragged in. Making her follow her into the grave." He shook his head, muttering in a way he purposefully meant for her to hear, "demon's daughter."

Nanashi had finished eating. She quickly put her plates by the wash basin to clean them later. She ran upstairs to go get dressed and ready for work. When she came back down to clean the dishes, she noticed her uncle was gone thankfully. Probably off to his forge next door. Ships came and went in this small Southern port, so he never lacked for work. He was actually better off than those who lived by the docks, but he hated people thinking lesser of him. Especially being forced to raise his niece by marriage and his son alone as a widower. Another woman probably did not want him, Haruto had once told her in comfort.

Nanashi left the house, quick as she could, avoiding walking past the forge. She noticed three people were standing there already outside the door, waiting to see her uncle about something or another. Sometimes the ones who were new to town liked to pandered to her, as if currying favor with her would help them get to see her uncle faster. The ones who lived in the town avoided her gaze.

She huffed and walked faster. Her uncle had not kept it a secret that she was a bastard. Nor that she was rumored to have been fathered by demon. The rumors were left to ruminate through out the town as she grew up. Yusuke used to shout and even fight with the other kids at school if they teased her, but that only got him and her in trouble with Uncle Chosuke at home. Now that he had run off though, rather than become his father's apprentice. Said that it seemed more like Uncle Chosuke wanted free labor more than anything else. So Yusuke absconded off to who knows where. He tried to get her to go with him, but she was too skittish at the idea. Said he was going to run off to the capital, but she had no clue if he actually made it there. Nanashi had wished she had gone with him. Perhaps if she went, she would not have been forced to drop out of school by her uncle and forced to go work at Haruto's tavern.

She did not mind working at Haruto's tavern, but did mind that her uncle took her wages. Haruto occasionally gave her a little extra, telling her not to give it to her uncle or tell him either. She hid it away in her room under her lumpy old mattress, to save it for the day she ran off to find Yusuke.

At work, Haruto greeted her kindly. He was an older man, but kinder man. Had come to their port city about fifteen years ago to take over the tavern from its previous owner. He was good man, kind, gentle, and pious. Believed in the elvish goddess, the Great Hawk Spirit, which was something humans like the lot who lived in this city rarely believed in. A goddess who loved all her children in the land and sent angels down from the heavens to watch over them from time to time. Sounded like the stuff of legends or fairy tales to Nanashi.

The humans lived in their country, the vast Hayato Territory, predominately in the south where it was often warm and sunny. The elves, like the King Hayate, lived in the middle where all the rivers were. The demons in the North, where the mountains were, all cold, gloomy, and frozen. She could never imagine living in such a cold place, nor that her father, who ever he was or what ever he was, could be from such as a miserable sounding place.

Nanashi must have been too quiet when she heading to the kitchen to start cooking because Haruto followed her in there. He was a big man, almost as big as her uncle and brutish looking. Biggest heart in the world though.

"Uncle being harsh again?" he asked her, giving her a once over look that told her he was checking for any bruises.

"Just with talking," she answered as she worked. Two other workers flitted about the kitchens with them. The tavern was prosperous, especially with sailors and the like who came to port. In this part of town, no one cared as much about her bastard status and rumored demon parentage, or they just did not know as they were not in town long enough to hear that age old gossip tale. Raven black hair her hair's color was common in demons, but not unheard of in humans.

"Tell him to shut up next time," Haruto teased. "Are big winded man like that can handle that coming from a little girl like you."

Nanashi laughed softly at the thought of that and shook her head. "Maybe."

"Or clock him with the breakfast plate next time instead of serving him," Haruto kept going. Nanashi shook her head. That would be such a bad idea. Rarely did her uncle strike her, but never her face, lest it make him look bad in the village. She figured if she ever attacked him outright, he might not hold back and would share about how she attacked him first. "Or sneak into the forge and mess up some of those nails he's working on for the ships that come in?"

She laughed at the cheeky humor. She could never do anything like that. She did not want to risk it. In about four months, she would be seventeen and would be considered an adult. She could move out her uncle's house by then and go somewhere else to live. Haruto had already offered her a chance to live with him above the tavern in the small inn he ran. She debated whether she should do that or if she should go to the capital and look for Yusuke. She missed Yusuke and thought about him often.

She and Haruto kept working through out the day, enjoying the profitable lunch shift they were having as not one, but three ships had come into the docks that day, maxing out the amount of places that could be docked down by the bay. She was busy cooking at the start of it, but Haruto chased her out of the kitchen and told her to help the other two women who worked in the tavern with her. The two of them were formal with her, not going beyond a shallow work friendship with her being a 'demon's daughter' and all.

Haruto sent her to work in front of the bar, where there were only four seats left to sit in the whole place. The main party she served at the far end of the bar were a set of six older, rowdy sailors asking her where would be a good place for them to rent a room or two for the few nights they were in port. She managed to convinced her them to stay at the inn upstairs. One of them was bold enough to ask her if she would be joining them later. She only blushed, assuming that one must have already been drunk, and shook her head. When she told Haruto she booked three rooms, but left out the drunk sailor's offer, he seemed to be beaming at her. He told her to try to get the last room available for the night booked as well while she was at it. She doubted that would be possible.

When she had turned back to the main room, she saw the door open, bringing a warm and sunny breeze wafting around the man who opened the door. In walked a man who made her heart stop at the sight of him. She stood by the bar, hand resting in a fist in front of her mouth. The man who walked it was a head shorter than her, dressed in a black cloak, black pants, black boots, and a white scarf around his neck. A black bag was thrown over his shoulder. A sword hung on his left hip. His hair was jet black, except for a white starburst pattern that was scattered over his bangs. The rest of his hair stood up in a gravity defying way. A white head band wrapped its way over his forehead and around the back of his head. The worst part about him was his crimson red eyes. When he met her gaze, she was certain if she was holding anything, she was have dropped it in that instant. A shiver of terror danced down her spine when she blinked first. She knew what he was.

"Hey! Looks lads!" One of the sailors she had been serving called out loudly over the noise of the room, making everyone seem to grow quiet. "Old green legs left his hiding hole on our boat. Guess he wanted off at this port after all. Come have a drink with us, runt!" he called over to the man in black.

"Hn," the man in black clicked his teeth and scowled at the sailors sitting at the bar. He turned and looked back over at Nanashi. The sight of him made her stomach feel like a pit of despair. "Girl," he addressed her in a voice that was so quiet, but so harsh. "Is there a room available?"

Her throat felt dry and her tongue felt thick, but she knew she should answer. She nodded and choked out, "one-one, sir."

He grunted dis-pleasingly. "Show me," he barked at her.

Nanashi felt like that was the last thing she wanted to do. She looked back in the kitchens at Haruto, but his back was turned to her. Her other two coworkers were mixed in the throng of people at the table in the main room. One of them motioned to her with her hands to go.

"This way, sir," she said shakily.

She walked briskly to the stairs that led to the inn, not hearing, but knowing the man and black was following her. It felt more like he was a predator stalking his prey. She ran up the stairs, stumbling half way up, and bashing her shin into the step beneath her. She heard, but did not look towards the snickers coming from the main room. Once they finally got to the top of the stairs, she turned down the hallway and could no longer see down below at the main room. That made her even more nervous.

She thought through her nerve racked brain, trying to think which rooms were available. She looked at the shut doors on this floor and thought about ones on the third floor.

"Which room is the most private one?" he demanded the question.

"Third floor," she choked out, turning to walk towards the stairs that lead to the highest floor in the building. He followed her up the stairs.

When they got to the third floor, she picked the room at the opposite end of the stairs, intuitively thinking he would prefer that that one. She cracked the door open to double check that it was unoccupied. There was no sign that another person had rented the room, so she let the man in black into the room. He cut around her in a rush into the room. His speed was almost uncanny. He went straight for the window, studying it as he ran his fingers along the bottom of it. He pulled it open, but it jammed three inches from the bottom. He shoved it hard with his palms, forcing it to open all the way. Then he hung his head out of the window, swaying it left and right as he surveyed the area below.

He brought his head back inside the room and slammed the window shut. She jumped at the sound reverberating through the still room. "I'll take it. How much a night?"

"25 gold pieces," she murmured. He shot her a look that told her he found that reasonable price unreasonable. "We're right by the docks-"

"But at a distance from the whore houses," he commented.

"Haruto doesn't like whores in here, so he charges more than the brothels and the inns right by the brothels. He doesn't allow whores in the rooms, so please don't try to bring one," she rambled.

"What makes you think I want a whore?" he snided.

She swallowed thickly, worried she had just offended this terrifying patron. She was unsure how Haruto would feel about renting him a room. She should have asked Haruto first, before offering him a room.

He stepped over to one of the two double beds in the room. He tossed his bag down on it with a plop. He dug out a purse, pulling out three coins; a three ten gold coins. He stepped closer to her and tossed them to her one at a time. She managed to catch the first two, but dropped the third one, letting it roll towards the door. She went and retrieved it.

"Um," she hummed, "I don't have change." She tapped her pockets for emphasis.

He looked at her like he wanted to carve out her liver. "The extra five is for food. Bring something up worth that much. No beer." She stared at him instead of moving for the door.

"What are you waiting for?" he snarled at her. She watched as he sat down on the bed and started removing his boots.

"Are you a demon?" she blurted out rudely.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you think?" he asked her shortly.

"I don't know," she whimpered foolishly. She started to back her way in the direction of the door, suddenly not wanting to turn her back on him.

He held up his palm. For an instant, black flames danced in his palm. "On my mother's side, for certain" he stated before he closed his palm, extinguishing the flames.

She ran from the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Nanashi had high hopes the likes of that strange demon, who later on told Haruto his name was Saif, would be leaving as soon as the ship he came on left port. He did not, much to her disappointment and fright. He was still renting out that third floor room in the inn and would only eat his meals in his room, rather than in the hall with the other guests. He kept his room immaculately clean though, seeing as how Nanashi was the unlucky one who had to tidy it up daily. Yet, Nanashi noticed he went out, more like slipped out of the inn and tavern when it suited him. Usually he came back flustered and would slam money down at the bar near where she was working. She was quick to deduce that he was doing this to pay for the next day's room and board.

She watched him cautiously the last time he slipped back in out of the tavern. He seemed less flustered, but more defeatist when he came back after the lunch rush. He went and fetched his bag and left without a word. Haruto exchanged a confused look with her when they watched him leave.

"Have a nice day, my friend Saif!" Haruto shouted out the door cheerfully after that brooder.

Nanashi had been watching him out the window and saw him make no sign of hearing Haruto. Nanashi let out a little laugh, mostly out of relief that Saif was gone.

During the lunch shift lull, Nanashi ate with Haruto and the two other staff members. They gossiped a bit about Saif, but Nanashi did keep an eye on the front door, feeling wariness in her bones without any real meaning for it. Saif was gone. It was quite alright.

It did seem alright, until the town's deputy rolled up into the tavern. Haruto reacted first, standing up stiffly. "Deputy Kaito," he greeted with a stiff bow of his neck and upper back.

Nanashi and the other two women stood up as well. She studied Deputy Kaito. He was young, only a few years older than her. He was near sighted, but remarkably perceptive. Rather bookish and brainy. In previous encounters with him, she felt like he played by his own rules, but within the rules of his job. Yet he never took on the role of town protector. He could handle people, but was not keen on defending the town from the wild beast or rare demon who attacked them. The last town protector had been killed by an ice spider last month that had wandered down from the mountains. The memory had sent a chill down Nananshi's spine.

"Miss Nanashi," Deputy Kaito look straight at her. Nanashi felt like her stomach dropped to the floor. Whatever he wanted could not be good. "The mayor has requested to speak with you. Privately. Immediately."

Nanashi felt something seize up within her. She walked robotically towards Deputy Kaito without wanting to. Haruto grabbed her upper arm, forcing her to stop in her tracks.

"Please let go of me," she nearly whimpered.

"Why do you want her?" Haruto asked, hand unclenching around her bicep. She stumbled forward towards Deputy Kaito in a rush.

"Mayor Takenaka wants to see her," Deputy Kaito answered as Nanashi went and stood by her quietly.

Haruto took a step forward, but only one. "Why does the mayor want her?"

"His business," Deputy Kaito responded vaguely. "I didn't feel the need to ask him."

Haruto looked about ready to speak, but he only grunted and sat back down in his chair. He resumed eating his meal with lackluster enthusiasm. Nanashi watched him, almost shocked at how little he seemed to care. Maybe if Haruto was not worried, she did not need to be worried either.

She left the tavern with Deputy Kaito, following him at a respectful distance. She kept telling herself not to be afraid. Haruto would have chased after them otherwise. He had always been rather protective of her and her cousin growing up. Thinking of her cousin put a sad smile on her face.

When they reached the city hall and climbed up the steps both inside and outside the building, she had yet to be worried. When they reached the mayor's office, however, she did see something that worried her.

"Miss Nanashi, Chosuke's niece, here to see you, sir," Deputy Kaito addressed Mayor Takenaka respectfully.

Nanashi stood stiffly in the doorway, see the mayor sitting at his desk and Saif standing across the edge desk from him.

"Thank you, Deputy Kaito," Mayor Takenaka told him. "You may go."

Nanashi shuffled herself into the room so that Deputy Kaito could make his way out of the room and shut the door.

Nanashi felt herself quell when she heard the door shut behind her. She could not think as to why the mayor or even Saif wanted to see her, at the same time. Yet she knew it could not mean she had been accused of committing some crime, like stealing from Saif. If that was the case, it would be the sheriff before her, not the mayor. She wanted also if Saif might be her demonic half brother, come to take her away. He was too young to be her father, but not too old to be her older brother. That was likely some silly daydream though.

Mayor Takenaka learned forward, pulling her out of her reverie. "Miss Nanashi, please take a seat," he told her, gesturing towards the two chairs in front of his desk. She slipped into one and sat up straight back and rigid. She wanted to show no fear nor apprehension. She gave Saif a side long glance, wondering why he was not sitting, but rather than standing at the other edge of her side of the desk.

"He said he preferred to stand," Mayor Takenaka explained to her.

Nanashi turned her full attention towards the mayor. "What is it you want with me, sir?" she asked the mayor politely.

Mayor Takenaka cleared his throat and learned forward. "I am aware that you and Saif here have already made acquaintance." She nodded for a second to ensure him that she was listening and he was correct. "Saif has informed me of his interest in becoming the town's new protector against demons and their beastly kin."

"That's wonderful," Nanashi said, not how else to respond to fill the pause.

"Yes, it is quite relieving to have someone brave enough step up and take Kiyoshi's place, Great Mother rest his soul, but..." Mayor Takenaka paused, as if trying to find the right words. "But he is not from around here. From what little he's told me, he grew up north of the capital, in a small village where being part demon or even part elvish is not unheard of. Quite different from the 99 % human population we have here." Nanashi watched the mayor, figuring the one percent not human he was talking about was referring to her. "Things are different here, a bit of a different culture than for the northerners. Hard to understand our ways sometimes, even if we are all from the same country and speak the same language. It would be far easier on Protector Saif and the whole town if he had a companion with him." Nanashi held her breath, nervous about what the mayor was about to request. "Someone who can understand him. Can sympathize with him and explain things to him as a fellow outsider." Nanashi trained her face to stay calm, while inside she was fuming at the hinted insults. "I was hoping you could do that. Be an example to the other citizens of the town. To know Saif is not someone to be feared, but rather revered as a hero in his own right."

Nanashi mulled it over in her head, thinking over what he said versus what he meant. Put the 'demon's daughter' in charge of the part demon, or even whole demon newbie in town. Should anything go awry, if Saif proved dangerous, she was likely the first person to be harmed, possibly killed. Mayor Takenaka wanted her to be fodder, between this demonic stranger and the rest of the town. She was the most expendable citizen in the town. It only gave her another reason to want to run away when she turned seventeen.

"I'll do it," she said in a soft, conceding voice.

"That's wonderful," Mayor Takenaka cheered, rising up to his feet.

He held his hand out across the void above his desk. Nanashi rose up, bow, and took his hand. Her hand was limp, but his was firm, almost domineering.

Nanashi could not bring herself to look over at Saif.


	3. Chapter 3

Nanashi sat sullenly with Haruto at his tavern mid morning. She was supposed to start working with Saif today, as his companion. Or his servant, nanny, minder, shield for the town. The thought of him and being so close to him for so long and often made her stomach curdled.

"Eat, child," Haruto prompted her, pushing her plate a little closer to her. She said nothing, staring at her half touched meal. There were too many butterflies in her stomach to make room for the rest of her meal. "He's not going to hurt you. He wants to protect the town, that means you included, pet."

She shook her head. "He's... part demon," she managed out. "Or whole demon. He doesn't seem to be sure himself even."

"Being demon doesn't equate evil 100 percent of the time," Haruto comforted. "Those impulses are there, and stronger than they are in humans, much stronger than in elves, but that doesn't mean they can't be circumvented."

She nodded, mulling that thought over. Everyone has good and bad impulses. It was easier for the elves, who were part angel in lore to chose to follow the good impulses and resist the bad impulses. For humans, who lore said were half elf, half demon, it was middle ground. For demons, bad impulses were tempting and good impulses were difficult to want to carry out.

"What if he hurts me?" she asked.

"He won't," Haruto promised unconvincingly.

"You have no control over him," Nanashi whined.

"He's coming here to pick you up for your first day. I will tell him that I will do equal to him anything he does to you. So will half the town if he tries to be heinous."

"No one here cares about me that much," she pitied herself.

Haruto shook his head. "You're cared for more than you realize. You just don't want to see it because you dwell too much on what your uncle blathers on about. Besides, with how handsomely the mayor has decided to pay you your service, your uncle will be cross if you were killed. All that money would disappear."

Before Nanashi could respond, Saif walked in through the front door without knocking. He shut the door behind him with his foot. He stood by the door, watching her unblinking, arms crossed over his chest. Nanashi felt a strong desire to cry.

She froze, not waiting to move. Haruto rose up and waltzed right in front Saif, puffing out his chest. "Look here," he towered over Saif. "You don't touch her, you don't hurt her, you don't lay a single hand on her. Nothing out of place. Or else you will have to deal with me. And it will not end well. Understood?"

"Hn," Saif merely grunted. He slipped out the door without so much as a word.

Nanashi knew she needed to get up and go after him. She rose to her feet, moving quickly to catch up with him. When she walked by Haruto however, he pulled her into for a quick hug. One that was not quite long enough to let her break down and cry.

"I would rather stay working here," she confessed.

"You'll be fine," he comforted. "I have a sharp knife in the kitchen, should you need to borrow it."

"More than one," she commented with a shy smile.

Haruto opened the door for her and shooed her out, warning if she stayed any longer, he would put her to work.

She ran out the door, huffing to catch up to Saif. She had a rare moment where she was unsure she would be able to find him. Yet she spotted his hair in a distance and ran towards him when she would rather run away.

She slowed to his pace when she caught up to him, walking just behind him. He showed no signs on realizing she was with him. He just kept on walking.

She kept following him along and up the hilly outskirts of the village's East side. They reached Kiyoshi's old home, a small, solitary one story house. Saif walked up to the house, using the key to open the lock. He went inside the house, leaving the door open for her. She had no desire follow him inside, but she did anyway.

The house was a small thing. Three rooms: a kitchen-main room, a bathroom, and a veranda. It was quite dusty looking and musty smelling, because no one had been in here since Kiyoshi's death.

Saif started rooting around on the veranda, tossing the cleaning supplies he discovered out into the main room. He wanted to clean his new house. Nanashi stepped up, starting with the cupboards. She blanched as she saw rotting food that looked like it was once bread molding on shelf. She found a cleaning rag, using it to pull the bread and other spoiled food from the cupboard.

She heard a loud bang behind her, making her jump. She turned around to see Saif had found the passage to the cellar beneath the floor boards. He had thrown the door open, allowing it to hit the other side of the floor. Saif disappeared into the hole while Nanashi found a suitable basket to throw rubbish away.

Together in silence they gave the small house a deep cleaning. When evening had arrived, they were half way finished. The only times they rested and ate were the two times, lunch and dinner, that Haruto showed up with meals for them. Haruto ate along side them, trying to elicit conversation that included both of them. She kept trying to get her to talk about her cousin Yusuke. How they would run around town with some of the other riffraff on the town by the docks. Yusuke, and rarely herself, getting into a tumble with some of the other kids and hoping her uncle would not notice.

The next day, she went back in the morning, working away at scrubbing the floor while Saif did the walls. When he finished before she did, he perched on the bed at the back corner of the room, watching her like hawk. She tried not to she had finished, she tossed the filthy, soapy water out the front door into the yard. She avoided the garden that was half vegetables, half weeds. She figured it would be her next task. She took the now empty cleaning bucket and set it down on the porch so the inside could dry before she put it away in the storage shed around back. She turned to the garden, starting to pull up the weeds that had shot up. She used her fingers, digging down deep in the semi-moist dirt, pulling up on the plants carefully to ensure she got the whole of the roots out. She tossed them carelessly behind her in the grass.

She noticed a shadow fall over her hunched form on the ground. She kept right on weeding. "Girl," Saif's voice cut throw the air. She did not stop working. "Girl," he said sharply again. "Girl," he said, seizing her wrist and pulling her over towards him.

She panicked, pulling her arm back, but could only go far enough for Saif to stumble, even though she fell on her backside. She took a handful of dirt in her free hand and threw it in his face. She tried not to quell in his presence.

He growled under his breath, letting her wrist go with a ruthless shake. He blinked at the dirt in his eyes and rubbed at his face. "Girl," he growled.

"Nanashi," she said, a weak bit of fight in her voice.

"I'll say your name when you earn it," he growled back. "I was simply trying to get your attention," he griped.

"You had it," she told him.

"Hn," he grunted. He stared at her in a harsh, yet curious studying manner. "Do you know why I asked the mayor for someone to assist me?"

She hummed under her breath, rising up to her feet and brushing herself off. She shrugged, not wanting to look him in the eyes. She could feel his hot gaze on her, but she refused to meet it.

"I didn't ask for some little servant whelp to just clean out the pantry, scrub the floor, or weed the garden," he told her.

He stopped speaking afterwards. The heavy silence made her crumble. "Then why am I here?"

"I told your foolish mayor I would be the interim town protector. Only for as long as it would take me to train up the next permanent one," he dead panned.

She looked him in the eye in shock of that one. "I can't," she gasped. The very idea terrified her. Fighting demons and demonic animals? They made her uncle look tame. She would never be strong enough for that. She could not imagine taking on a demon and winning. She felt herself go pale.

"Why not?" he asked, stepping closer towards her.

She backed away from him, not liking how close he was to her. "I don't know how to fight," she mumbled.

"Never?" he questioned in a voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. He sounded almost excited.

She shook her head, hands coming up towards her mouth.

"What? What about all those fights Haruto mentioned you and your cousin got into?" He asked her. "The mayor knows about them."

She hummed under her breath. "I rarely fought and never won."

He looked up and down appraisingly. It made her want to squirm. "You'll do," he stated, right before he threw a punch at her.

She threw her forearm up over her face, blocking the punch. Her arm stung where his blow landed. He punched her again. This time he caught her in the gut. She was too slow to block it. She staggered back, feeling the wind knocked out of her. Her hand came around her torso. She growled under her breath, backing away. She felt herself panicking, feeling on edge.

He threw a few more, slower punches at her. She blocked those. She wanted him to stop and felt frustrated with him over all this sudden fighting.

"Stop!" she shouted at him, hands coming up in front of her. She felt a kind of heat radiate from her hands, creating a small wind that pushed him away. It was Saif's turn to bring his hands in front of his face. She saw him be blown back a few feet. She panted, blinking over at him. She brought her hands to knees, feeling her whole body shake. "Stop," she mumbled breathlessly. She felt the world shift sideways as she collapsed to the ground.

She gasped as she came to, sitting bolt upright. She saw she was laying on Saif's bed in the main room of his house. He stood near her, watching her hawk like. She looked away from him and over to the window. Late afternoon sunbeams were streaming through the windows.

"You'll do," he declared. "You were out for a few hours."

She rose up, off the bed, not wanting to be laying there all of a sudden. "Good night," she said in a rush as she headed for the door. She felt too tired to run, even though she wanted to.

"Be on time tomorrow to start your training," he called after her.


	4. Chapter 4

Nanashi almost did not go the next morning. The surprise fight with Saif had her spooked. So did... whatever had happened with her hands. She wanted to know what that was, having never done anything like that before. Not to mention waking up on Saif's bed with him watching her, waiting for her to wake up. It was almost as spooky as what happened with her hands.

Rather than go home, she went to see Haruto to tell him what happened in the back of the tavern's kitchen. He want from angry that Saif had hit her to excited to hear that the reason was he wanted to train her to be a protector. He seemed rather excited over the idea, especially of what she had done with her hands.

"Saif wants to train you to be protector? You would make a good protector," he told her in a hushed tone. "It's- It might be in your blood," he commented. Nanashi winced involuntarily as her stomach gave a sharp pinch. She wrapped her arm around her middle. Haruto noticed, frowning in an almost hurt way. "Whoever your father was, demon or otherwise, may have been a fighter. Besides, you and your cousin used to get into scrapes with other kids by the docks when you were younger."

The surprise pain in her stomach faded away. "I lost those fights pretty often though," she admitted.

"Didn't make you stay out of them, pet," Haruto teased her. "That thing with your hands, what did it feel like?"

"I don't know," she puzzled. She thought it over. "Like a rush. Like an adrenaline rush. A blast of energy that sent Saif stumbled backwards."

"Do you think you could do it again?" he asked eagerly.

"I don't know," she mumbled.

"Could you do it again without being trained?" he pressed.

She cocked her head sideways, giving him an 'I see your point' look. "No."

"Oh, then you should train with Saif then, shouldn't you?" he recommended.

"He still scares me," she grumbled.

"Why? The other kids didn't when you were younger," he challenged.

"The other kids weren't ever demons or part-demons," she challenged right back.

He shook his head. "You know some of the lesser evolved demons are dangerous, so are the demon animals. Those ones can be evil, wild,and vicious. Yet the higher evolved ones, which are the ones who can breed with humans, can better control those impulses. Assuming he's that way without getting to know him is prejudice," he scolded. She looked down, not wanting to hear the lecture she had earned. "You know what it's like to be on the receiving end of prejudice like that. With most people avoiding you because they think you are part demon on your father's side, something that's never been proven. Yet you control the bad within you and mostly embrace the good. Why couldn't it be the same for Saif?"

"I don't know," she flubbed out.

"Give him a chance to train you. Besides, he doesn't plan on being here forever, and the town will still need a protector. He'll train you to fill that role," he stated.

Nanashi's conversation with Haruto had changed her mind. When she should up on Saif's doorstep the next morning, Saif did not seemed surprised. He hardly spoke to her either. Rather they spent the morning sparring. He taught her several punches and how to block them. It was troublesome to figure out how to do them, especially when he was not afraid to hit her straight on when she messed up. By lunch time, she was exhausted, half wanting to go crawl into his bed again. He did not let her though. The afternoon brought more training. By the end of day, she was unsure how she even managed to get herself home, let alone get her uncle's and hers supper ready.

The next few days were the same. They blurred together over the following two weeks. The training was hard and intense, but she kept going back. She wanted to learn about channeling energy, which was what Saif had told her was what she did with her hands that first day. Yet before he would train her in that, he wanted her trained in weaponry. He tried to start her off first with a wooden training sword, but he kept getting frustrated, seemingly with her. The wooden sword was hard for her manage. She felt like it was too heavy and was more like a club that anything else.

After that fiasco, he refused to train her on it anymore. He gave her instead a dagger, training her how to use that. That felt more natural in her hand, but not hundred percent. It felt like that was too small and too light, but the weight of the wooden sword felt the same, but not right either. It like her arm craved for something longer and heavier, but the dagger would do. Training with a dagger was so much easier than training with a sword. She could parry and block more naturally with it, even though it did force her to be at a closer distance with her opponent.

After a month of training with him, she felt more confident as a fighter, like she was ready to be the town's protector should the day arrive that Saif was gone. After an evening training session, she asked him, "how long are you staying in town?"

He shook his head and shrugged. "Not sure," he replied vaguely.

"Why not?" she asked curiously.

"Because I don't have a reason to leave," he told her gruffly. He used a sharp tone that had scared her at first when she first met him, but this was something she had become accustomed to.

"Will you tell me when you're leaving when you decide to leave?" she asked on bated breath. The friendship they had formed was something she did not want to lose suddenly. The thought made her stomach tie in knots.

He looked at her a little too hard and a little too long. "Maybe," he replied, blinking first.


	5. Chapter 5

Nanashi kept training with Saif, wanting to learn more about how to channel her spirit energy. She could do only conjure up a few bursts of wind, wishing it was more. Saif did say it was harder for the human blooded to conjure energy attacks, but that she should keep trying.

One evening, after an easy day of training because Saif wanted her to rest up a little bit after all the training she had been doing, they went to Haruto's tavern for dinner. Since her uncle had been claiming all her wages for himself, Saif was paying for their meal that was given the 'protectors' discount' by Haruto. Nanashi felt a twinge of jealousy when she saw Haruto had hired a new worker, a young woman she had known from school. At least she was respectful and courteous when she served them.

The meal was stilted as they ate, which made Nanashi feel awkward as other people in the tavern watched the two of them, but Saif hardly seemed to notice. Haruto did take the opportunity to have a cup of tea with them after their meal.

It was midway through Nanashi drinking her tea when she heard the town's church bell ringing out in panic. She tensed up at the sound of it. The bell should not be ringing right now. It only rang for scheduled things, like the birth of a new noble, or a wedding, or the death of the king. Ringing right now, unplanned, meant one thing.

"Demons," Haruto breathed, standing up.

Saif rose up, telling Nanashi, "let's go." He was already running out the door.

She froze for a second. Haruto pulled her in for a quick hug before shoving her forward. "Go," he shouted after her.

Saif was impossibly fast. Even though he had trained her to run faster in the woods by chasing her around with his sword, but he still out ran her. She ran in what she hoped was the direction he had.

When she was running past the church, Saif suddenly appeared by her side, taking her by the wrist and yanking her to run faster towards the north of the town. "This way," he called behind himself.

"What... is... it...?" she panted out her question.

"Doxies," he swore under his breath.

Nanashi wished they could have been running the other way in that moment. She had learned about doxies in school. Tiny, hairy, black little demon animals who walked upright. They could fly. They would travel in packs of three. They also had razor like teeth and front claws that contained neural toxins that were poisonous to demons or part demons. One bite or scratch would be a death sentence. Now she and Saif, two demon blooded town protectors, were heading straight for them.

'Keep your eyes open,' she heard Saif say, but not aloud, rather in her mind. It was completely unexpected. 'You know what they are, good,' he continued. 'Keep your head on a swivel. Sometimes one of the three of them will sneak up behind you or come from your blind side. With your dagger, go for the wrists first. Slice them off, but avoid the blood. It's also toxic. Go for the neck after that, to decapitate a doxy.'

She nodded, more like bobbing her head up and down as they continued to sprint. She felt like they could hardly breathe by the time they reach the pasture that was usually full of sheep on the outskirts of the town.

They stopped abruptly at the gate. There were very few sheep left, and some of them were dead. Freshly dead. Like still warm and disemboweled dead. Nanashi tried not to panic as she scouted the area with her eyes.

"Where are they?" Saif asked aloud. He was scanning the area, too. "There!" he hissed, looking towards the left.

He drew his sword and charged toward a fresh sheep carcass. He had his sword out in a flash, cutting the hands off and then beheading a doxy she had not even seen before he attacked it.

"There's still two more, get your knife out and stay alert," Saif yelled.

Nanashi did as she was told, trying not to breathe too loudly so she could hear them.

To her right she heard a shrill screech and the sound of small feet pounding the ground. She screamed in panic when it sucker punched in the chest with its head, knocking her down to the ground. She dropped her knife to bring her hands up to the doxy's wrists. She held its wrists tightly. Her elbows were locked out in the air to keep its bloodied mouth away from her. She was close enough to its mouth to see the raw strips of sheep meat snuck in its teeth. It snapped its jaw at her over and over, trying to lunge down at her. It kicked at her torso. She felt so thankful that it did not have claws on its feet like it did on its hands.

Trying not to panic or get bit, she boldly rolled herself and the doxy so it was beneath her. She held its wrists fast to the ground as far away from its head as possible. It screeched and spat up at her viciously. Her arms were shaking, but she dare not relax for even a second. Squirming, she brought her knee up and shoved her lower leg down on its torso. She dug her knee between its rib cage, trying to choke it. Her only semblance of a plan was to make it pass out and then slice its head and hands off.

Much to her surprise, Saif appeared in front of her. He rammed his sword straight down into the doxy's skull, killing it instantly. She look up at him, seeing a faded purple light glowing underneath his white head band.

'There's still one more, somewhere,' he warned her. 'Get up.'

She nodded, trying to still her desire to retch. She rolled up to stand, picking up her knife on the way to a standing position. She held it ready in her right hand, looking around to see if she could spot the last doxy.

'There,' Saif said, turning to his right and sprinting towards the last one. It was standing up behind the body of a freshly killed sheep. It screeched at him. Saif ran at it and it ran at him. He sliced at it, cutting off only one of its hands. He swore in frustration. He had missed its other hand and head.

Both of them kept running the same direction they were headed though. Saif was still running away from her while the wounded doxy was running towards her. Nanashi steeled her herself and ran towards it. When she got close enough, she aimed her knife and sliced it across the doxy's throat. It collapsed before her, but had fallen slow enough that it manage rake its remaining claws over down the length of her inner calf.

She stared at her lower leg in disbelief as she backed away from the dying doxy. Her eyes watered, clouding her vision into a watery haze. She collapsed to the ground, feeling both cold and numb. This could not possibly be the way she died, so soon, so young, so suddenly. She buried her head in her hands, crying freely at the realization she was going to die within hours.

She felt someone come up behind her, pulling her into their arms comfortingly. "Sh," a gruff man's voice hushed her. "It's just a scratch." It was not Saif's voice, but she could not place it beyond that fact.

She shook her head, unable to speak. Whoever he was had to have known she was part demon, so now she was dead.

"Let her go, Mitsunari," Saif voice said on her other side.

Mistunari... She placed him now. He was the sheppard out in this flock. In his mid-twenties now. He had a wife, but she had passed away two years from illness. He mostly kept to himself nowadays. He must have been quick to sound the alarm when he saw the doxies in his pastor.

She yelped as she felt Saif pick her up. "Where's your home? She can rest there and I can look at her wound."

Saif followed after Sheppard Mistunari as he led them to his home. Sheppard Mistunari had a bigger home, two stories. It seemed so empty for just one man. Saif sat her down on the couch in Sheppard Mistunari's front room.

"Get me a rag and clean water," Saif ordered him as he pulled Nanashi wounded leg towards him. He shoved the sticky pant leg up to just above her knee. She looked down at the wound one more time and started to cry anew. "Why are you crying?" Saif asked her harshly.

Sheppard Mistunari had come back with a hand towel and a basin of water. He also brought a bar of soap He set the soap, water and hand towel down next to Saif. Then he sat down next to Nanashi on the couch. He looked so worried. She felt a wave of guilt wash over her, knowing she was going to die on his couch, in his house. "Hey, don't yell at her like that," Sheppard Mistunari told him. "She's just scared and hurt is all."

"That's not it," Saif retorted. "She thinks she's dying, when clearly she's not." He started to clean the wound. "It's shallow, so you won't need a healer. Not that this town has any of those either. Prejudice and all that of the demon blooded and talented."

She felt like she went sober all at once. She blinked to clear her vision. "What?" she murmured out thickly.

"If you were truly part demon, you would be writhing in pain or unconscious by now. Doxy toxin is said to feel like acid searing through your veins. Everywhere would hurt and unimaginably," Saif explained as he washed her wound.

"What are you saying?" she asked dumbly.

"You're not part demon," he dead panned.

She gasped at his words, not sure how to reply.

Sheppard Mistunari did though. "But her uncle told everyone she was half demon. That her mother was a wh- had slept with demons. That Nanashi was demon spawn."

Saif shook his head knowingly. "He was wrong."


	6. Chapter 6

After killing the doxies with Saif, and then also helping him defeat a dozen of demon spiders that were being smuggled on a merchant ship, Nanashi felt different. In the village, almost everyone treated her different. Nanashi did have a nightmare or two about the doxies and demon spiders swarming her, but she was not afraid in her dreams. Rather she was determined to defeat them, even if she lost in her dreams.

In town, the people who used to shun her acknowledged her and engaged her in small talk. It was rather unexpected and she fumbled to remember names or for what to say. Kids danced around her now rather than running away. One even gave her a weedy flower snatched out of a garden. She kept it on her window sill in her bedroom.

Her uncle though... He was sulky about the fact that she was outed as a non-demon after the doxy attack. He looked like a liar or a know-nothing to the town. He got frustrated when a few townsfolk dropped off simple thank you gifts for her, baked goods mostly. Occasionally soap, lotion, and fresh fruits and vegetables. She knew Saif was receiving more.

When Saif received something, he would acknowledge it with a simple look and maybe a nod. When Nanashi got something, her uncle would shoo the givers away. It only led to the gifts being relocated to by the front door with thank you notes attached. Nanashi would get them and put them in the house. Her uncle still ate some of the baked goods, even though he tried to hide it.

One morning though, when Nanashi went to leave for training with Saif, her uncle stopped her, standing in front of the door so she could not get around him. "Where do you think you're going?" he growled down at her.

She looked up at him, perplexed. "Work. As the apprentice protector for the town," she said calmly.

"Not anymore," he informed her. "You never sought my permission for that job, so you're done with that nonsense."

Nanashi gasped slightly, not sure how to respond. "But- but- but my pay. You've been taking it. From the mayor-"

"I'm warning you," he interrupted her as he took a step towards her. "You are a minor yet. Under 17. You live under my roof. I make the decisions about what you can and cannot do for you."

She frowned up at him, not willing to back down from him. "If you don't want me being protector, then go tell the mayor and Saif that."

He backhanded her across the face for that insolent remark. "Demon bitch," he swore down at her. He reached down to her hips, yanking her knife off and its sheath from her. "I made this, and not for you," he growled.

"She's not demon, you fool," Saif's voice called from the doorway. Both Nanashi and her uncle watched him casually waltz through the front door. "She was scratched by a doxy and lived to tell the tale. No demon has ever done that." Saif stepped between them, yanking the sheathed knife from her uncle's hands with hardly any fight. He thrust it back to Nanashi. He walked away, towards the front door. "Let's go. One of you are going to train with me today as my apprentice. If you make me chose, you will not like who I choose."

"Hurry up," her uncle growled down at her. He tugged her turn shoved her towards the front door.

Saif was already on the move, so she had to rush to catch up to him. When she reached him, she walked in stride with him, putting her knife back on her belt.

"That was amazing," she huffed. "He was all like I can't be your apprentice anymore and you came it and spooked him into backtracking everything he said to me. Thank you." She smiled shyly at the thought that her uncle was scared of Saif.


	7. Chapter 7

Most of the people who lived in Sarayashiki were like sheep. Ignorant, prejudice, bleating sheep. They assumed all demons were evil and all humans were good; as if the issue were simply black and white. There were grey areas in between. Take for example how most of them had treated the girl prior to the doxy attack. They assumed with her paler complexion and raven black hair that the uncle was right; she was half demon. That her late mother had been a whore and slept with demons. The mother might have still been a whore and the girl was certainly a bastard, but that was beside the point. Little did this wholly human village know that even half demons were just as obvious as whole demons. The girl would have been a lot stronger, maybe even an elemental if she had been a half breed. She was seen as inferior to everyone else in the village because of it.

Yet, with the exception of the uncle, the whole village it seemed turned their opinions about her around when she was scratched by the doxy that night in the pastor. If she was half breed demon, she would have certainly died from the doxy toxin. The parasites in there ate away at a demon's brain, spine, and nerves. A long, arduous, and painful death. In half breeds, it was said to take longer for them to die, but they would still most certainly die.

Yet the girl survived the doxy toxin, even as she freaked out, thinking she was about to die. It looked like the scratch marks on her leg were going to end up scarring, but that would leave proof that she was human; or at least was not demon.

Her bull of her uncle tried to refuse the evidence right before his eyes. Even tried to refuse to let her train as a protector anymore because he was embarrassed about her not being a demon, like he said for years. People were treating him a little worse as they were treating the girl better.

Hiei had been with the girl in the tavern run by the keeper. The keeper liked the girl very much, but in a mentor like way. Probably the only person in the village who treated her right in town before the doxy attack. Before the doxy attack, the keeper would give them a discounted dinner once a week. After the doxy attack, there was no need. People who happened to be in the tavern when they walked in would pay for their meals.

"Yes, um, yes, thank you," the girl murmured up to the elderly women who thanked her for fending off the demon spiders. The foolish women seem to think the spiders would have ruined their coffee shop by the docks. "Saif?" she said turning to him. Hiei turned and looked over to her. She passed him the bigger of the two cookies that the elderly women had given her. He took it wordlessly and sat it on the napkin by his dinner plate.

Saif. That name suited him as well as any name. He could not risk his real name, even down this far south. The bounty hunters that were still looking for him would be using his real name. All because of some stupid drunken night.

The girl had broken her hard dry cookie in half, dunking it in her tea to soften it up before she nibbled on it. She was looking over at the bar, watching the sheppard and the keeper talking.

"And her, you know what-" the sheppard said.

"Father?" the keeper interrupted.

"Yeah sure," the sheppard sighed. "He said no, just like that. I literally offered to marry her for the dowry of a chipped cup off the shelf, and he said no. Just like that."

"Maybe he knows she ain't inclined to marry? So he refused you," the keeper suggested unconvincingly.

"I could make her happy though. I could make any woman happy, I'm sure of it," he groaned pathetically. He sighed. "Anyway, I should get going. Back to my empty house." He paid his bill to the keeper.

"You'll find someone," the keeper said comfortingly. The sheppard did not look convinced though.

The sheppard left the tavern, bumping into the person walking through the door, murmuring an apology. That person was the procurer of all people walked into the tavern. A man in his late twenties, long and sleek black hair, pencil thin scare running vertically over his right eye, and fancy black suit. His whole look just screamed expensive. Hiei felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. The procurer new his real name and knew the bounty hunters out looking for him. A time or two, he hired them for their services. Hiei tried not to notice like the others in the tavern. The procurer was renting a room for a time being. He even paid upfront for an entire month. Hiei cursed internally at the idea of that. It seemed like he would need to be skipping town sooner rather than later. The girl was not quite ready yet to take over as protector though. She could handle demon animals, but when a demon person rolled in, she could be easily killed. He needed to train her more.

The procurer was busy chatting with the keeper, learning about the town. Oh all things, the keeper pointed out the girl, complimenting her newfound skills as a protector. He sounded as proud as a peacock.

The procurer looked over at them, eyes looking intrigued at the sight of Hiei and the girl sitting together. The procurer strolled over to their table, coming to stand surprisingly close to the girl. She skidded her chair back a little to make room for him. He smelled faintly of expensive tobacco smoke.

"So," he said in a velvety voice. "You're the village protectors." He spoke only to the girl though. "Dangerous line of work for a pretty little one such as yourself?"

The girl looked up at him, mouth slightly parted. She was unsure what to say back. "Umhm," she hummed.

"How long have you been protecting your town?" the procurer as her.

"A... a... a couple of weeks," she managed to choke out. She would not even look up at him, intimidated as she was.

"Strong, fiesty girl?" he teased down to her with a flirtatious smile. Her face tinged pink at that. "So protectors Saif and Nanashi. Nanashi, that is a name that just rolls off the tongue." Her face went from pink to red.

"Thank you," she struggled out, not looking up at him.

"I'm Sakyo, by the way, miss," he introduced himself only to her. Then the procurer boldly reached over to touch her chin to lift her face up. Hiei hissed under his breath. The girl flinched back away from his hand. The procurer pulled his hand back, but only in feigned withdrawal.

His eyes flicked to Hiei and then back to the girl. "If you'll excuse me, I must retire. Riding the king's road all day through the mountains is exhausting. Enjoyable, but exhausting. Room 303 by the way," he added with a wink to the girl.

Hiei watched the procurer waltzed up the stairs like he owned the place.

After that, Hiei waited until the black of night to follow after the procurer into his room. He came in through the window, only half surprised to see the procurer sitting in a squishy chair next to the fire in the fire place. In one hand, he held a lit cigarette. A clear glass of brandy sat on the small table by the chair with a bottle of opened brandy beside it. A ash tray sat beside that.

"I was wondering when you would turn up," he commented, taking a drag from his cigarette.

Hiei looked at him. "You're not allowed to smoke in here."

The procurer took another drag and then stamped the cigarette out. "Funny how a fire demon would be worried a little smoke. What is it that you want? What threats are you here to make? Or bargains for that matter, Hiei?"

Hiei did not fall for the teasing. He leaned against the open window and crossed his arms over his chest. He stared at the procurer, unblinking. "Why are you here?"

The procurer raised his hands up in the air and shrugged. "Can't a vastly wealthy man visit a beautiful city such as this?"

Hiei did not believe him. "Have you sent word to the bounty hunters yet?"

"Not yet," he commented. "Maybe I'll be too busy enjoying this city and seeing what it has too offer to even care to remember to let them know a felon is hiding out here, on the run."

"I didn't,-" Hiei started, flustered.

"Do it?" the procurer cut him off. "Yes, I'm sure you didn't," he added sarcastically. "Two drunk men, one says one thing, the other runs off. Now who is to be believed?" The procurer bent down and picked up his glass, sipping from it. "So what's your price? To keep silent. The bounty over your head is quite high considering."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at him. "Let me at least finish the new protector," he offered.

"That demure young woman?" he asked. His eyes sparkled at that. "How old is she again?"

"Almost 17," Hiei answered.

"Almost?" the procurer mused. "Such a sweet age. Mature, but still so innocent."

"Leave her alone," Hiei replied.

"Do you think I would really take away not one, but two protectors from this town? Surely you don't think I am that heartless, do you?" the procurer challenged.

Hiei flitted out the window without another word, seething about the procurer and his veiled threats. He could call on the bounty hunters after him. He could take the girl away with him to the capital to work for him. If he stayed, he risked himself being captured. If he left, he risked the girl being ensnared. A catch twenty-two.


	8. Chapter 8

It did not take long after Sakyo had arrived for Nanashi and Saif to run into demons, persons this time not animals. Saif seemed annoyed after they took down the five of them. According to him, they were plant demons, sown to cause trouble by another person. They were weak things with no minds of their own. Whoever set them loose, intentionally made them damage part of the town. Saif half made, half let her take out four of them by herself. The biggest issue with these five plant demons were they attack downtown, near Haruto's tavern. They had not attacked people directly, but they did do some damage to property. Haruto's tavern and part of the inn were going to need to be shut down for a few days while it was repaired. When they had fought them, they had an audience for it, which included both Uncle Chosuke and Sakyo. As well as other milling townsfolk who happened to be there when the attack started.

After the attack, Saif flitted away, likely to his home while Nanashi stayed with Haruto at his tavern to assist with cleaning it up and repairing it. She noticed Sakyo was helping her and Haruto out with half a dozen other townsfolk. He kept on working near her, which made her slightly uncomfortable. Haruto noticed and started working near her as well. That made Sakyo keep his distance, but she could still tell he was watching her.

In the evening though, after those who were helping Haruto with the tavern were eating dinner, Sakyo excused himself. Nanashi felt relieved to have him gone. She did not enjoy how much he watched her all day. Haruto even warned her discreetly to try and keep her distance from him. He even went as far as to promise he would kick him out of the inn if she wanted him to.

After dark, Nanashi made her way home, blinking tiredly as she arrived at her uncle's house. She stopped short in the doorway. Sakyo was sitting comfortably at the table, the nicest mug they own in his hand. Uncle Chosuke was sitting across from him, hunched over and looking perplexed. A chipped mug sat in front of him. The faint smell of black tea filled the room.

"Hello again, miss," Sakyo was the one who greeted her, rather than her uncle. Her uncle did sit up straighter, rubbing his hand over his mouth. "You must be exhausted from fighting and helping out all day." She looked down, away from his gaze and nodded meekly. "Chosuke, you should pour your niece a cup of tea. And give her your seat. She looks half dead on her feet."

Uncle Chosuke jumped up and rushed to follow Sakyo's ordered. Nanashi doubted she had ever seen anything like it before. She almost did not want to sit down across from Sakyo, nor sit there and drink a cup of overly milky tea her uncle made for her across from him. She was grateful that her uncle stayed with them, standing propped up against the wall behind her.

Sakyo turned to face her head on, asking, "so did you always dream of being the town's protector?"

"Uhmm, no," she said, not meeting his piercing gaze. There was something not quite right about the glint in his eyes.

"How did that come to be then?" he asked in a velvety smooth voice.

"The mayor... Saif... Saif went to the mayor and offered to fill in as the interim town protector. The last one was killed. Saif said he would train the new protector. The mayor chose me." She hoped she made sense and had not babbled too much.

"Saif?" he said the name in an incredulous voice, almost like he did not believe what she said. "How well do you know him?"

She bit her lip before answering. "Well enough to be trained by him," she replied.

He breathed a little chuckle at her answer. "So your loyalty has to be earned," he stated. She was still unwilling to meet his gaze. "Well, you seem tired after your long day, Nanashi." He stood up abruptly and waltzed over to her uncle, proffering his hand to him. Nanashi watched as her uncle shook his hand. "Pleasure meeting you, sir. Hopefully you will consider my offer."

Nanashi froze until Sakyo left the house. She breathed out a forced sigh, fist coming to rest up in front of her mouth. She rose up without thinking, taking the three cups by the table and putting them in the sink to be washed later.

She turned back to look at her uncle. He had a conflicted look in his eyes. "What was that all about?" she asked mousily.

Her uncle just shook his head. "It's late. I'm tired," was all he said. He left the room, heading up the stairs to his own bedroom. Nanashi watched him go, wondering what that was all about.


	9. Chapter 9

Hiei was only half surprised when he saw the keeper coming to his small home early in the morning. Hiei groggily served the man coffee and sat down at the small, two person table.

The older man, sighed before he began, "You and that Mr. Sakyo know each other." It was not a question.

Hiei took only a second before speaking. "I have met him before, yes."

"Where?" the keeper was not in a playful mood for banter.

"When I lived in the capital for a time," Hiei answered.

"Hayato City?" the keeper asked, naming the capital. Hiei nodded. "What did he do there? He had to have done something to be as wealthy as he seems."

Hiei felt irked at the idea of explaining it. "He's a procurer of sorts. He hires and trains mostly men as bounty hunters and takes a cut of the profits. He also trains fighters for the fighting pits. Tends to push them both heavily into debt to him so they are forced to work for him until the debt is repaid. Some of the pit fighters die trying."

The keeper scowled. "That sounds illegal," he stated.

Hiei shrugged and shook his head. "Some get out of it."

The keeper looked at him, studying him. "You got out."

Hiei's nose twitched, hating how he managed to guess that. "Someone took an interest in me and paid off the other debtor, not Sakyo, but a friend of his."

"Who was that someone?" the keeper asked.

"Someone not worth getting drunk with," Hiei vaguely mumbled.

The keeper kept silent, sipping from him coffee and waiting for Hiei to say more. When he did not, the asked, "what does a man like Mr. Sakyo do with women he collects?"

Hiei felt uncomfortable revealing that. "Few go into the fighting pits and far between end up becoming bounty hunters."

"Then what do they end up becoming?" the keeper pressed.

"Prostitutes," he admitted. "Sakyo prefers to take those women and make them high end prostitutes for the wealthy. Men in the capital, even elvish men, visit a time or two. He does what he does with the men, drives them into debt with him and makes them work it off."

The keeper pounded his fist against the table, making his cup jump. "He means to do that to Nanashi," he stated. "I won't allow that to happen. Either option."

Hiei studying him discreetly. "It's likely what happened to her mother-" He stopped when he saw the keeper shake his head vigorously. "That's not what happened to her mother."

The keeper looked down, keeping his eyes trained on the cup in front of him. He had a secret. A secret he wanted to share, but could not, for whatever reason.

"You know what happened to her mother," Hiei stated with unknown certainty. "But you can't say why. A blood bond curse?" he asked. The keeper sat still and said nothing. "If it's a blood bond curse, you can't say what you were enchanted not to say, for pain of death of you and anyone else who is a blood relative of yours."

The keeper brought his fist up to his mouth, biting his knuckle. Hiei watched him. He had seen someone do an eerily similar mannerism before.

When it clicked in his mind, he gasped. "How-"

"Don't say it out loud," the keeper pleaded.

"I can, even if you can't. You're still bound to the curse, even if I figure it out," Hiei reasoned. "But she doesn't even look like you." The keeper was broader, stockier, and darker in complexion. "Let me guess, part of the curse?"

"You can read minds, can't you?" the keeper asked. "Will that affect- affect the curse? Trigger it?"

"Mildly, even though you technically aren't telling me. The two of you may get ill," Hiei warned.

The keeper huffed. "Don't then. But please, get her out of here and away from that monster Sakyo. Before she became your apprentice, she wanted to run off to Hayato City to be with her cousin Yusuke. Get her there, get her to him. Or marry her yourself so Sakyo won't want her anymore."

Hiei gasped at the bold permission the keeper just gave him. "I haven't looked at her like that." The keeper gave him a disbelieving look. "Not enough for something like that." The keeper still look him expectantly. "Why not just have her marry the sheppard. He wants her."

"He'll not protect her from the likes of her uncle or Sakyo. He's a wimp, which is why no woman in the town will marry him," the keeper challenged. "Just get her out of here."

"I can't leave the town without a protector like that," Hiei rebutted.

"You can if it keeps her safe," the keeper challenged. "We've managed before in this town."

"That's not-" he began.

"What does Sakyo have on you, anyway? You seem half ready to run from the moment he laid eyes on you," the keeper said.

"I have a bounty over my head," Hiei stated, not liking how the keeper was pushing this now.

"For what?" the keeper pressed.

"A crime I didn't commit," he insisted. "That's all I plan to say on that matter."

"Whatever it is you're accused of, you ran, didn't you?" Hiei hissed through his teeth, hating how the keeper was now in turn having his own revelation. "Instead of facing justice."

"There's no sense in seeking justice when there's none to be had," Hiei retorted. "It's not worth sticking around just to be shoved into jail for something I didn't do." The keeper seemed to mull over his words. "Sakyo could easily contact the team of bounty hunters down on me if I'm not careful. He threatened to do that if I interfered with him procuring Nanashi."

"Then you both ought to get out of here, sooner or later," the keeper said. "You name the time and place and I will get you both the supplies you need. You can take a boat, or go by horseback through the mountains. Which ever you prefer."

"I can't-" Hiei started.

The keeper slammed both of his fists down on the table. "You can't let him take her and enslave her. Her uncle will let it happen if Sakyo offers him enough money or threatens him. He's a paper tiger. He'll cave if enough pressure is put on him. He won't protect her if it means him risking himself."

Hiei was not sure what to say to that.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Hiei had sent the girl on a scavenger hunt of sorts in the woods. Told her to go hunt down seven different plants that could be used as herbal medicines. She knew a little about that, but not what all of them likely looked like. Hiei figured it would take her the better part of the day light to finish her quest.

Which gave him plenty of time to talk to her uncle. He sought out the uncle in his smithy. He was banging away at some horse shoes. He stopped and set the hammer down beside his anvil. He looked over at Hiei, moving his jaw around like he was trying to figure out what to say.

"What do you want?" the uncle mumble growled out.

Hiei studied him before saying, "when Nanashi turns seventeen, you need to let her become the town's protector."

The uncle gritted his teeth and scowled. "Says who?" He rose up to his full height, pushing his barrow chest out.

Hiei stared at him blankly, showing him he was not intimidated by the gesture. "Your town needs a protector. You'll be to blame if she's not here to do it."

"You're here," he said with nod over to Hiei.

"Not for long," Hiei responded, stepping a few steps closer to the uncle. The bull of the man stood up straighter, but flared his nostrils. "The town will need protected. She's passingly capable."

"Where you going?" the uncle asked with a nod of his bull head.

"I'm only here in passing," Hiei commented vaguely.

"You ought to just stay here," the uncle said back.

"I come and go where I please," he responded vaguely. He moved in for the request the keeper wanted him to make. "If you don't want her as protector, I could take her with me."

The uncle cocked his head diagonally, confused by that statement. "As your whore?"

Hiei grunted. "She's worth more than that." He tried not to let his mind wander the way it wanted to. "I could take her on as a wife." He kept any sign of hope out of his voice.

"She's already spoken for," the uncle said. He took a dusty cloth out of his pocket and wiped his brow.

Hiei raised his brow. "Really? Who? The sheppard from the outskirts of town? She can do better than that."

The uncle hissed through his teeth. "How do you know about that?"

Hiei smirked up at the uncle, enjoying how uncomfortable it made him feel. "You said no to him for a dowry of a simple chipped cup," he stated.

"And what are you offering?" the uncle countered weakly.

"How about the promise I won't sell her into essentially slavery?" Hiei offered, knowing that's what the procurer would do if he got his hands on her. Yet that was not what her father, the keeper, wanted. "You haven't had any other offers, have you? Ones for something like?"

The uncle growled like he was the one who demon. "Get out of my forge."

"I'll take her, free of charge. No dowry. The cost of her life," Hiei laid his offer on the table. "That can't way against your conscience, can't it? Unlike another offer you might have had."

The uncle's face resembled a bull's. "He told me a thing or two about you," he blurted out. "Killing and then robbing the man who bought you out of debt. You're on the run."

Hiei forced himself to smirk, when he felt a stronger desire to panic. If the uncle knew, who else in the town would find out soon enough? "Do you believe everything you're told? Or just the things you want to believe?"

"Get out of my forge!" the uncle roared.

Hiei narrowed his eyes up at the uncle. "What did Sakyo ask you for her hand in marriage? It's only customary for him to take something from you as her dowry. If he offers you anything, then it voids out the marriage agreement. You do know that, right? He can use that as an excuse to drive into his debt and make her work her way out of it."

The uncle had picked up his hammer, snarling over at Hiei, who had yet to flinch. Hiei shook his head, and flitted his way out of the forge.


	11. Chapter 11

The days blended into weeks serving as Saif's apprentice for Nanashi. Now he avoided Haruto's inn altogether because of Sakyo staying there, but Nanashi understood his sentiment. The way Sakyo looked at her gave her the creeps. If he had not been paying such good money to Haruto for his room, Nanashi would have told Haruto to kick him out of there after all. Haruto likely needed the money anyway.

Nanashi trudged home after a day of training with Saif. She had not mentioned it, but the next day was her seventeenth birthday. She had decided to stay in town and train with Saif, but also felt like she was stuck staying with her uncle now as Sakyo still stayed in Haruto's inn. She had decided now that she would move there as soon as Sakyo left, whenever that was.

She arrived home, hearing her uncle's hammer swinging away in his forge. As tired as she felt, she made a dinner he would like. That way when she secretly moved out, he would be less suspicious.

She made the meal and set the table, waiting impatiently for her uncle to come in. When he did, they ate in the usual stiff silence. She did could not think of anything worth saying, considering she was looking forward to finally not living with him anymore.

When she had clean up the meal, there a soft knock at the door. Uncle Chosuke went over to the door, taking a second to peer through the peephole before opening. He swore softly under his breath. He turned back over to her with an annoyed look on his face. He snapped his fingers and pointed toward the stairs. She gave him a puzzled look, but did as he motioned, figuring it would give her some extra time to sort out what things she would want to take with her when she moved out..

She padded up the stairs as softly as she could, but left her door open with the temptation to ease drop on whoever it was visiting her uncle.

She heard him open the door. "Come in, Sakyo," she heard Uncle Chosuke say in a louder than usual voice.

She gasped nervously, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Thank you, Chosuke. Hope I am not arriving too late this evening," she barely heard Sakyo's velvety voice reply. She heard the two of them shuffling around in the main room, possibly her uncle busying himself to make Sakyo a drink. "So where is your niece?"

"She's upstairs sleeping. Lazy girl claims Saif was training her too hard again today. She didn't even bother to clean up," her uncle replied. "So what can I do for you?"

"I trust you've finally come to an agreement on the deal I offered you a few weeks back?"

Nanashi held her breath, waiting to hear what her uncle might say back. "You know, your offer if quite generous, but that's not how a marriage agreement works." Nanashi felt like her stomach dropped into her feet. "I'm not supposed to accept money from you or anyone else for her as a dowry. That's not how that agreement works. I'm supposed to giving you something in return for her hand."

Nanashi brought her hand up to her mouth. Sakyo had offered to marry her and her uncle was turning him down. She hoped he could chase Sakyo off with his bullying attitude.

"Yes," Sakyo replied smoothly, "but that's not how things run in the capital. A poor man, such as yourself, forced to raise your niece by marriage, surely deserves some pay back for raising the half demon bastard. If you won't accept my money for her dowry as sorts, take it as a gift from me taking her off your hands."

"I got nothing to offer you for her," Uncle Chosuke loudly responded. "Nothing you would probably want anyway. Nor do I want your money, any way you want to spin it. Besides, I have two other offers on the table for her. One for the cup in your hand, and another for just her life. Either one of them would be a better option for her than you considering she wants to stay in town and serve as a protector."

Nanashi felt her heart racing. Her uncle was trying to turn down Sakyo's marriage proposal to her. It was the first she had heard about it. Or the two other offers he just mentioned for that matter. She felt like whether or not the other two offers were real, she would her uncle accept them than Sakyo's.

"What? This cup?" she heard Sakyo say calmly, right before the sound of shattering glass reached her ears. She flinched, trying to decide whether she should go intervene for her uncle. "I think one of your offers just got taken off the table."

"Well the cup one was the best one to be considered," her uncle growled. "It's the one I plan to accept. Keeps her in the town and keeps her away from you and that other will-o-the-wisp."

Sakyo did not lose his cool. "You're a bull of a man, but a selfish one. The other offer was for just her life, yes? I'll take her with a different sort of dowry then. Your life. You have her packed and ready tomorrow for myself and my associates to come fetch her. They only arrived late last night via ship. We take her, or we kill you, it's up to you." She heard the scrapping of a chair across the floor and clinking of glass. "You can keep the money I put on the table. As a gift from me for a deal well struck."

Nanashi finally let herself breathe when she heard the front door shut. She panicked, half tempted to run down the stairs and out the door before her uncle could stop her. Then she turned her head and looked back at her bedroom window. She would have a better chance going out the window. She would have a longer lapse in time before her uncle came to check on her. Possibly the whole night. She could run to Saif. Or to Haruto.

She went over to her window, opening it. She looked out the window and down. The distance was too far to just jump. She could tie a bed sheet from the window and climb out-

"What are you doing?" her uncle asked her, standing in her bedroom doorway. She brought herself back inside and turned to face him. He closed the distance between them. "What the hell did you bring down upon me, you stupid girl?"

She shook her head, not sure what to say back. "I I I didn't-"

He looked ready to strike her. He stepped over to her bed and stripped the sheet off of it. "You heard everything, right?" She nodded meekly. "Then you waited until nightfall and ran off. Climbed out your bedroom window. Ran off to Saif and the two of you fled in the night, out of town. There was nothing I could do to stop you."

She watched him, unsure what he was doing or saying. He was tie the sheet around the end of her bed, opened the window, and threw the other end of the sheet out of it.

"Get going," he roared at her. "Right now," he ordered, shoving her towards the window.

She climbed down and out of the window, trying not to slip on the sheet. She looked back up at the window, but her uncle was nowhere in sight. She ran through the woods, going around the outskirts of town rather than through the town in case Sakyo was nearby. She blinked back tears as she ran.

When she reached Saif's house, she was in full on panic mode. He answered the door and let her in. She haphazardly explained everything she now knew between her uncle and Sakyo. Saif kept telling her to calm down, even as she was breathing rapidly and crying slightly.

"I said calm down!" Saif insisted, grabbing her by the shoulder firmly.

"I can't! We have to go! My uncle said to go to you!" she rushed out between breaths. "We have to run, but if we do, my uncle will be kill-"

She stopped in shock when Saif pulled her shoulders down and in just enough to kiss her. She pulled away, gasping in shock from that. There had been too many shocks to her system. Her uncle... Sakyo... now Saif...

She sat herself down on his bed in the corner with a plop. She went silent, feeling suddenly drained and exhausted.

Saif was panting himself, but less so. "Wait here. I will go get supplies. We can head North and be to the next city, Gandara, in two maybe three days ride."

She felt shaky, too shaky now to speak. She nodded, bobbing her head up and down rapidly. "Don't take too long," she pleaded.

He flitted out of the house, shutting and locking the door behind him. She waited for him, mulling over everything that had just gone down in the last hour. She also packed up supplies for them that were in his stores. She thought about how Sakyo threatened her uncle if she did not go with him, but her uncle told her to run. He never did seem to care that much for her before. Why would he choose now to be selfless with her. She felt sick thinking about what would happen to her uncle in the morning when Sakyo found out he ran. He had also mentioned his associates... She mulled that part over in her, realizing she had forgotten to tell Saif about them in her rush. She only told him about Sakyo and her uncle... Hopefully the associates would not be a problem.

She needed to move, not wanting to sit still anymore. She rooted through the cupboard, taking extra things they might need. She had had two bags packed and sitting down by the door. She jumped when she heard the door knob rattle. She felt on edge, but relaxed a little when she heard the lock click. Then she felt a fresh wave of panic when she saw the door open and Sakyo of all people casually waltz into the room. He had a thing piece of metal in his hand. He threw it casually over to the side of the room. She backed away from the door and into the middle of the room. Her hand itched to grabbed the knife sheathed on her hip, but she felt too frozen to move.

"Well, well, well," Sakyo said too calmly, blocking the doorway. "Your uncle seems more selfless than expected. Telling you to run. Guess neither of you noticed one of my associates hiding in the woods near your home. He heard the whole thing from your open bedroom window."

"Don't hurt him," she chocked out.

"Do you think I would?" Sakyo asked. How relaxed he seemed sent chills down her spine.

"I know you would," she answered. "Or would have someone else do it for you."

He chuckled under his breath. He looked around the room. "This home is pathetic. Hiei certainly downgraded his livelihood moving out here." She frowned at him, not sure who he was talking about. "Oh, you don't Hiei's true name? Saif is the name he's been using. He's on the run. Bounty hunters are after him. Want to know what he did?"

She felt herself get nervous. "I don't care," she answered with fake confidence.

"One of my, mmm, friends, bought him out of his debt and hired him on as a household guard. According to my friend's wife, Hiei made a pass at him, but when he refused, Hiei killed him. And then he ran all the way to this backwater town," Sakyo was grinning broadly after his explanation.

"You're lying," she insisted, feeling unsure of where her allegiance now lay. Saif and Sakyo knew each other. Sakyo had to be lying, but it did not seem like it. She knew for certain though she would rather go with Saif/Hiei than Sakyo any day.

"You sure?" Sakyo asked her. "Either way, he ran, so he's a dead man with a significant bounty on his head. And if I take you away from him, it'll be a sort of payback for him taking my friend away from me. Plus, you're quite desirable looking. A full blooded human who looks like a demoness. There are some men in the capital, wealthy men, with such a fantasy to sleep with a demoness who won't try to kill them.

"That was until your uncle decided to play me. Told you to run and that he planned to lie to me and say you ran off. I can't have that," he stated. "He was willing to sacrifice himself to protect you. I guess I'm going to have make his willingness to sacrifice himself be in vain." His words made her blood run cold. He stepped closer to her. "Surrender to me now, and I'll make your death quick and painless. Refuse, and you will suffer."

Nanashi took a steadying breath. She shook her head stubbornly. She charged straight at him. She threw a punch at him, striking him across the jaw. She stumbled back from him after that, watching him.

"Hhmm, maybe you would try to kill one of your clients after all," he commented.

He closed the distance between them, engaging her in a fist fight. She matched him, punch for punch. She kept trying to get close enough to him to get her knife out and to stab him. She went under his arm, trying to tackle him to the ground. He outweighed her though, making him stumble back, but managed to keep standing. He hand went for her neck, but she ducked down, using her shortness against him. He left himself open to be stabbed. She drew her knife and went for his center.

Only to be hurled back into the wall behind her by an unseen force. Something, a long coiled thing, wrapped around her right wrist and yanked her to the ground by it quick as a whip crack. She landed on it, her knife spinning out of her hand. She winced as a wave of pain went through her wrist and forearm.

"Elder Toguro," she heard Sakyo hiss. He turned around, putting his back to her. "I told you to wait outside. I had everything under control."

The coil around her wrist let go. A crackly voice answered from the doorway. "Sure you did. The little demoness was about to pull a knife on you, but I'm sure you were going to dodge it before she planted it in your gut."

Sakyo grunted under his breath. He kicked her knife away from her. She watched as it went skidding into the back corner of the room. He reached down to her, yanking her up to her feet by her left arm. "Get up," he ordered. He seized her by both wrists and pulled her in close. She felt a shot of pain go up her right arm. "Now, before you interrupted me, when is Hiei due to be back here?"

His face was much too close to hers for comfort. "I don't know." He tightened his grip on her wrists. She whimpered. "I really don't."

He turned his head away from her, saying, "get in here." She watched as four men entered the room. One seemed almost too big to fit through the doorway. There was the smallest one who had stopped her from killing Sakyo. His hair was long and tangled. He stood near a tall, incredibly muscular man with sunglasses on. There another skinny man with long black hair and a mask over his mouth. Last was a tall, stocky man with a a mask and helm completely covering his face. She could not help by hope that Hiei would never come back to this house so the lot of them would never capture him. She closed her eyes, praying that the Great Hawk Spirit, the elvish goddess, that he would abandon her and run off.

The four men, if they could be called that, stood at the side of room opposite of Hiei's bed. Whereas, Sakyo pulled her over to sit on his lap on the bed. He held her wrists so she could not try to get away without pain wretching up her right wrist. She was almost certain it was broken. At least she was able to at the edge of his upper legs.

"So you don't hardly know Hiei at all," Sakyo mused behind her. She did not look back at him, nor at the four men mulling around the other side of the small house. "When he was younger, he was raised by bandits. Got caught, ended up as a pit fighter to pay for his crimes. The king likes a good show, you know." He gave both of her wrists a squeeze, making her whine. "Went into debt there, but my friend was generous enough to buy him out, in return for him to become a household guard. Other pit fighters have done the same before. A red headed part demon and a bastard elf did the same once. The three of them were a merry band before the other two bought out." He squeezed her wrists again. It almost seemed like he was enjoying the pain he inflicted. "Hiei took his chance, but when he got drunk the first night with my friend, he made a pass at him, trying to grab him a certain place you'll never know about." He gave her wrists sharp twists, making her cry out unwillingly. His grip slacked to just holding her wrists limply. "My friend refused him, so he stabbed him in the gut, and left him there to die. His wife raised the alarm, and Hiei fled. My friend died later the next morning, but not before he got a chance to share the events that took place."

She could not believe him, did not want to believe him.

The small man cackled, " she doesn't believe you. And why not, my pretty?" Sakyo squeezed her wrist, making her flinch. "You know, Hiei might be gone for a while. That bed is plenty big enough to take turns with her."

She sucked in a frightened breath. The lustful look he was giving her made her skin crawl.

Sakyo behind her laughed breathily. "No, she'll never experience anything like that. I could have made her into a courtesan, if not for her uncle." Sakyo glanced up at the biggest man across from them. "You sense him yet?" The biggest one, the one with sunglasses on nodded his head. "Then let's go greet him, shall we?"

Sakyo stood up, shoving her forward in front of him so he was able to do so. He pushed her in front of him towards the front door. The small man coiled his finger, much to her disgust, stretching it out to open the door for them.

She kept her head down, bidding her time until she got in the doorway. Then she stopped dead in her tracks, trying to block the rest of them from getting out of the house.

She screamed out, even in the haze of pain from Sakyo's grip on her wrists. "Saif! Hiei! Just go! Just run! The bounty hunters are here, t-"

She winced and crumpled as Sakyo kicked her legs out from under her. He then shoved her forward until there was enough room for the five men to exit the house behind her.

She felt a hand come to the back of her hair, yanking her back up to her feet. "Run!" she cried out hoarsely, her voice cracking. Sakyo pulled her back against him, clenching her wrists. "Please, just run!" When she saw Hiei somberly emerge from the tree line, she shook her head and tried and failed to blink back tears.


	12. Chapter 12

Hiei left the girl in his tiny house, hoping he would not take very long to get supplies from the keeper and get out. The keeper was hardly surprised when he arrived at sunset to fetch supplies and two horses from him. The keeper insisted once that he marry the girl as soon as they got to the next town, or get her to the capital to her cousin. Both were highly unlikely to happen.

He rode one horse, leading the other by its reins. He had not seen anyone of importance thankfully. The procurer was no where to be seen, which he took as a good sign.

When he got closer to his house however, he sensed them. Six energy signatures, all he recognized: the girl, the procurer, and the four bounty hunters in the procurer's employ. He stopped both horses, halting them and tying them up to a nearby tree. A long shot hope that he and the girl would come back her to fetch them later.

As he approached the house, he had the thought that he could simply run, abandon the girl and make for Gandara. The thought came unbidden and just the thought of the thought made him feel sick. He could not fathom leaving her to that fate.

He went up to the edge of the woods, just within sight of the house. There were six horses tied up near her. Hiei was certain they were the procurer's and bounty hunters'. He watched the door open and the procurer shove the girl forward. She stopped dead in her tracks, blocking the doorway with her body

She screamed, "Saif! Hiei! Just go! Just run! The bounty hunters are here, t-" She grunted as she was cut off. She knew who he really was. The procurer shoved her out of the doorway and let her lay there, crumpled up. The procurer stayed behind her, but the four bounty hunters stepped out around them. The procurer yanked her to her feet by the hair and took her wrists, holding them behind her back. "Run! Please, just run!"

It was tempting to say the least, but if he did, she would be killed. He stepped out of the tree line and in plain sight of the house. The girl shook her head and winced.

"You didn't run like last time, impressive," the procurer called out over the distance between them. The smile on his face made Hiei want to run him through with his sword. He didn't move, but Hiei saw the girl wince. Hiei wondered why. "Are you going to surrender this time?" the procurer asked.

Hiei gritted his teeth. If he ran, she was dead. He hated that thought. "You going to kill her if I don't?" Hiei spoke loudly across the distance. He stepped forward, closing the distance between them. If it was just the procurer and one bounty hunter, he could take them. Five of them was impossible. If it somehow happened, she would be killed in the midst of it. She was innocent in all of this mess.

"Oh course," the procurer said calmly. The excited look dancing in his eyes was chilling.

"I'll surrender if you promise not to kill her," Hiei bargained, hoping the procurer would agree to that. "Any of you," his eyes scanned over the other four bounty hunters.

"We won't kill her," the procurer agreed calmly. The girl went to say something and cried out, trying to pull away from the procurer.

"What did you do to her?" Hiei asked sharply.

"She attacked me, broke her wrist in the process," the procurer answered.

The procurer shoved her over to the closest bounty hunter. The bomber. The demon one with the abilities to plant tiny bomb monsters that most could not see into their bodies unless they were spiritually powerful. The bomber held the girl lightly by her right wrist with his right hand and covered her mouth with his left hand. Hiei could see her right wrist was swollen and bruised He also saw the bomber held a tiny bomb monster of his own making set at the top of her wrist, waiting to be sent inside of it and explode. The wound might not be fatal, if she got help in time.

"Seize him," the procurer commanded.

The small one wrapped him up with his coiling fingers completely. He wrapped him completely from shoulders to ankles, so tight it hurt to breathe. The second he got the chance, he would kill this one first.

"Fetch the horses, bind him to one," the procurer ordered.

The two other bounty hunters left silently went into the woods and got their horses. Two were massive beasts meant to carry the massive men, while the other four were normal sized. Hiei was silently thankful that they did not find the other two horses with the supplies from the keeper. The small one let him loose, so the largest one hoisted him up onto the smallest horse, tying him up in the saddle. He endured it all in silence. Once they were away from this town and the girl was safe, he would kill them all and run for it, or die trying. They had to get away first and she had to be safe. That took priority.

The procurer stepped over to him on the horse, checking his bonds himself to make sure he was secure. "Well tied."

He stepped away from Hiei and over to where the bomber stood with the girl. Hiei watched hawkishly as the procurer, the two bigger men, and the small one mounted themselves up, adding supplies from the house to their own.

The small one held the reins of Hiei's horse as the procurer lead his horse up to where the bomber stood with the girl. He kept in plain sight of Hiei. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial with violently purple liquid.

Hiei's heart stopped in the instant he recognized what it was. The procurer tossed the vial down to the bomber, who caught it in his right hand. He watched the bomber wrestle the girl so he could hold her by the jaw to wretch her mouth open. He one handedly unstopped the vial and held it up to her mouth.

"No!" Hiei protested, finding his words. "You promised neither of you would kill her."

"He's not the one who will kill her, the nightlock juice is," the procurer replied. "Too bad she isn't part demon after all. Nightlock is toxic to full blooded humans. She'll be dead by morning. Sound familiar?"

"Don't do this," Hiei hissed. "I surrendered."

"It's not your fault she's going to die. It's her uncle's fault. He's the one who lied to me and told her to run off with you," the procurer explained. He stopped talking and nodded over to the bomber.

"Don't drink it!" Hiei shouted at her.

He could not take his eyes off the struggle between the girl and the bomber. She squirmed and tried to close her mouth, even as the bomber poured it into her mouth. Then he forced his hand up to close her mouth. She coughed, but her mouth was closed. Purple froth came out of her nose as she coughed harder and harder. Her face turned red. Then the bomber dragged her coughing and sputtering form towards the house, shoved her through the open door, and shut it on her.


	13. Chapter 13

Nanashi hit the floor hard, feeling a jarring pain surge up her right arm when she landed on it. It was nothing compared to the pain she felt encapsulating her center. Her sinuses burned. Her mouth burned. Her throat burned. Her chest burned. The awful after taste of that juice in that vial clung to her mouth, making her want to wretch in order to get rid of that dirty and sour taste out of her mouth. She curled up into a ball on the floor, clutching her center. The burning more than she could tolerate.

She raised herself up with her left hand and threw up all over the floor. Her mouth felt it was on fire, burning anew as she dry heaved some more, hoping to get the rest of juice out of her system.

She crawled away from her vomit, knowing she needed some water or milk or something to drink to dilute the poison still in her stomach. She crawled, favoring her left arm, in the direction she thought was Saif's pantry. He would have something to drink in there. Her head was spinning and her eyes kept watering, making it impossible for her to figure out which direction she was heading.

Her strength failed her. The clenching burn that invaded her stomach made her wish she had never been born. She curled up into a ball n the floor, arms wrapped around her middle. She wanted it to be over, sooner rather than later.

She lay in the haze of immeasurable pain for who knew how long. She could not hear, could not see, could not recognize anything outside the realm of searing pain inside of her.

She heard a mumbled voice above her. It sounded like someone trying to yell underwater. She was pushed onto her back, which made her stomach feel even worse. Her right hand was pulled, making her cry out. She panicked, trying to pull her hand away, scared it might be Sakyo or one of the other bounty hunters come back for more.

A low, muffled voice echoed above her. It sounded soothing, but Sakyo could be that way, too. Just before he did something violent or threatening. A cooling sensation shot through her right wrist, even as her stomach ached terribly. Her arm was then gently set down on floor.

Next, she heard the soothing voice next to her, pulling her up to lean against whoever it was. She did not fight, could not fight. She wanted free from her stomach pain one way or another.

"Drnnngh," the muffled voice made no sense. A cup came to her lips, spilling a cool, creamy, and almost sweet liquid into her mouth. A bit splashed out of her mouth, but she managed to get herself to drink and swallow.

She was laid back down on her side, her stomach still aching, but a little less so. A large hand slipped it's way down between her hands over her stomach. A cooling feeling washed over her stomach, easing up the ache in it to be bearable. Bearable enough for her to slip into an uneasy sleep.

When she woke up, she was not sure when it was or where she was. She heard two men talking.

"When did you find her?" a gruff voice asked.

"About two or three hours ago," a gentle voice said.

"What did he do to her?" the first voice asked.

"Poisoned her. She threw most of it up on the floor. I cleaned it up after I put her in the bed," the second voice answered. "I can't say how she survived it."

Nanashi groaned, blinking her eyes open. Her right wrist and stomach ached dully, but nothing compared to how they had been when she was last conscience. She rolled to her side, pushing herself up with her left hand. She looked over in the direction of the two voices, seeing Uncle Chosuke and Haruto standing together on the other side of the small house.

Uncle Chosuke looked over at her first, but Haruto moved over to her first. She lay on Saif, no, Hiei's bed. Haruto knelt down beside her. She grumbled, scrunching up her face. She cried, but only a little. She felt to worn out and sore to do much more than that.

"Oh, sweetness, are you okay?" Haruto asked, running his hand through her tangled hair.

She cried freely, letting Haruto hold her as she did. When she managed to calm down, Her uncle stepped over to where they knelt. She pulled back, sitting upright and not wanting to look at him. She leaned against the wall behind her groggily.

"What happened to you?" Uncle Chosuke asked.

She furrowed her brow at him, wishing she had the energy to snarl. "Sakyo had one of his bounty hunters hiding near the house. He heard you tell me to run. And about the lie you plan to tell him in the morning. This morning," she explained as best he could. "And then..." She explained what happened from the moment she climbed out the window. She left out the kiss Saif/Hiei gave her. She was unsure if she wanted to explain that, let alone how to explain that. She was not sure herself what to think about that. "... and then one of the bounty hunters poisoned me. Nightlock he called it." Her uncle gasped, making her pause for a moment. When he did not talk, she kept going. "I was thrown back into the house. I threw up some of it, but I thought I might die. Someone came in... a low voice. He gave me something to drink... he touched my wrist and stomach, making both injuries hurt less..." She raised her right hand up to inspect it. It was still sore and bruised, but most of the ache was gone.

"Who was it?" Haruto asked her. "The person who helped you?"

At the same time, Uncle Chosuke asked, "How the hell did you survive?"

She answered Haruto. "I thought it was you. If it wasn't you, then who was it?" She puzzled over it in her mind. The person had healed her, so it could not have been Haruto. Haruto was human. Healers only came from those with elvish ancestry. It was said to be a gift from the angels and the Great Hawk Spirit.

"I can't say," Haruto mumbled sadly.

Uncle Chosuke stepped closer to them. "How did you survive nightlock poisoning?" he asked insistently.

"I don't know," she replied. "I don't really know what that is exactly," she answered honestly. She racked her tired brain, trying to remember if Saif/Hiei ever taught her about it when he was training her.

"Sweetness," Haruto called her attention back to him. "Nightlock is deadly to humans. five berries or so will do it."

She sucked in her breath, figuring out how many nightlock berries juiced could fill a vial. "I threw it up. And that healer helped me. Maybe the drink he gave me was an antidote."

Uncle Chosuke shook his head. "There's no antidote and where ever that healer is, he's gone now. No elf would want to mess around here in this town anyway."

"Well then, I don't know," she answered glumly. She wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep and wake up to this nightmare being over.

Haruto rose up, standing next to Uncle Chosuke. "She needs to rest and recover, even you can see that." Uncle Chosuke nodded. "I can take her to my inn. Me and the other workers can watch over her for a few days. When she feels better, she can go back home."

Nanashi liked the sound of that plan. She nodded in agreement with it. Thankfully Uncle Chosuke agreed as well. "When she's better, she comes home," he insisted. "Sakyo doesn't know she's still alive. We need to keep it that way."

"It's your fault I almost died," she thought aloud bitterly.

"What did you say to me?" Uncle Chosuke responded.

"It's your fault I almost died. Sakyo tried to kill me, thinks he killed me because you told me to run," she let her thoughts out. "It's your fault Saif was kidnapped. He gave himself up so I would be spared, but it was for nothing. At least that's what they all think anyway."

Surprisingly, Uncle Chosuke had nothing to say in response. She could tell she had wounded him based on the look in his eyes. She did not know he could look like that.

"Sweetness, calm down," Haruto soothed. "You are tired and need time to recover. You don't know what you're saying right now."

He took her hand in his. Gingerly she stood up and let him assist her out of the bed and then out of the house. She did not bother to look back at her uncle when they left.

It was a long and silent walk to Haruto's inn. Haruto ended up carrying her on his back once they reach the outskirts of town. He was huffing by the time they got to the inn so early in the morning.

No workers were there yet, with how early it was. He helped into a room on the second floor and let her lay down and sleep.

She slept fitfully, not sure if she was waking and thinking or dreaming about what happened. She needed to rescue Saif, some how. She owed him that much. He gave himself up to save her life, when he clearly did not want to. He was going to run with her, head to Gandara... That was the name of the city, right?

"Nanashi?" Haruto's voice echoed over her. His hand shook her shoulder.

She jumped fully awake, sitting up and blinking up at him. She took a curt glance out the window. A late afternoon light streamed through the glass. How long was she asleep? "Yes?" she croaked out loud.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, sitting next to her on the bed.

She saw the tray on the nightstand. She reached over and grabbed the glass of water, drinking from it. "Better," she said through wet lips. Her stomach gave a sharp growl, making her almost nervous to eat. Her uncle had toast and an apple for her on the tray. Food that would be gentle on her injured stomach. She reached over and pulled the toast over to her, chewing on a nibble of it.

"Sweetness, do you know where Sakyo was planning to take Saif?" Haruto asked her.

"North... I think," she said between bites. "Sakyo was from the capital. Hiei-Saif's real name, had been there, too. I think that's where Hiei killed Sakyo's friend. It's the only place that makes sense." Her brain felt fuzzy, so if that did not make sense, Haruto would point it out.

"Did they go by horse or boat?" he pressed.

"Horse. Two of those bounty hunters were huge men. There horses were massive," she rambled.

"Do you think that might slow them down?" he asked.

"Maybe. I don't know. I feel like having Hiei bound would slow them down," she reasoned.

"Would they be slow enough for you to catch up with them?" he hinted.

"What do you mean?" she asked, unsure how that would be possible.

"Sakyo thinks you're dead. You owe Hiei a life debt. I can't believe that Hiei killed Sakyo's friend. If he did, he's the kind who would do it in self defense. You need rescue him. Sakyo and the others won't see you coming," he laid his plan out for her.

She shook her head, shocked by his suggestion. "I can't... I..."

He turned to his side, grabbing her sheathed knife and passing it to her. "You forgot this at Hiei's house."

She took it in hand and then sat it down on the bed beside her. "I can't. I don't have a horse. Or supplies. Or money, I-"

"I'll give you all that. The supplies and horses Hiei had taken from me last night. I found them tied up in the woods near his house. He must have hidden them from the bounty hunters. Take the swifter horse," he planned.

She realized before he had even told her this plan, she had already decided she was going. She want to save Hiei. Had to do it or die trying. "I will," she said resolutely.

"Eat and rest up. I'll wake you late in the night and send you out," he told her.

She nodded silently in agreement.

She did as was planned; resting until Haruto woke her up and sent her off on his swiftest horse. She did not head due North though. First she made a stop at her uncle's house, almost wanting to chicken out with her plan for this stop. She snuck inside, trying to to be as silent as possible. She snuck up to the fire place mantle, looking for the loose brick up there. Her uncle usually kept things hidden there, especially money. Yusuke used to steal a bill or two from this 'secret' stash from time to time without her uncle catching on.

Inside of it, she found the wad of money Sakyo had given him as a 'gift.' Her uncle had the nerve to keep that money after Sakyo tried to kill her. She took the lot it. She rushed out of the house silently, stealing herself not to look back or to look at the money she now had stashed in her bag. All 1,000 of it.

'I'm coming Hiei,' she thought to herself as she lead her horse to canter North.


	14. Chapter 14

"Excuse me?" Nanashi asked for what felt like the millionth time. "I'm looking for a group of men..." She would ask after Sakyo and Hiei and the other bounty hunters to anyone she could get to stop to talk to her in Gandara. The few who would listen to her rather than shy away from her knew nothing. At least that was what they said anyway.

It had been a week since she hit the road in pursuit of Hiei. Stealing Sakyo's money from her uncle had come in handy. She was hard press to recover from the nightlock poison and getting to rest up in nice rooms at the inns she came across, as well as gentle meals on her stomach was an added blessing.

She promised herself one more day in Gandara asking after him and then she would head north again. She saw an older man with his daughter walking near an alley way. There was vendor selling candy nearby, which the daughter was drawn to.

"Excuse me, sir," she said approaching him. "I'm looking for six men. Two large and four smaller. All on horseback. One of the men had long black hair with a scar running vertically down his face. Have you seen anyone like that?"

The older man ignored, paying the vendor. The vendor gave her a side long glance. The man led the girl away from him. She caught the girl asking, "Daddy, was that lady a demon?"

"Hush now," was all the older man said in reply.

Nanashi huffed, watching the pair of them walk away. It was not their fault that she was so pale she looked like a demon. Did not stop her from wanting to rage at them for it though.

She turned away from the vendor, casting a stray glance at the alley way to her left. She heard someone clear their throat. She turned to see a figure in the shadows between the two buildings. They beckoned her over to them. She took a second to point at herself. The figure nodded. Her hand slipped to her knife on her hip for a second before she walked down the alley towards them.

The figure never moved. When she was near enough, he, it turned out, asked in a low voice, "you're looking for Sakyo?"

"Yes," she said cautiously. "Have you seen him? Or the other men he was with?"

"That depends. Why are you looking for them?" the figure asked. The darkness of the shadows obscured his face.

She finally had a chance at a lead and she was ready to risk taking it. "One of them is my-" she stopped, not sure which word to use. "My mentor, friend, um, was kidnapped by Sakyo and his bounty hunters. I am here to rescue him."

The figure looked her up and down and then let out a laugh of disbelief. "Is that right?"

She felt her face flush. "If you don't know anything useful, then quit wasting my time," she snapped.

She turned away, but the figure grabbed her by her left wrist, wretching her back over to him. She spun around on the balls of her feet, punching him in the jaw. He let her wrist go. She punched him again, feeling the quickening of fear about this stranger. She went to strike him again for a third time. He blocked it, throwing his own. She managed to block the strike and back away from him. It forced him out of the shadows.

She saw him. He had pitch black hair that cascaded down his back and over his shoulders. His skin was dark brown, eyes slightly slanted. He was smirking slyly at her, as if she was a form of entertainment. She charged at him, but he shoved her back, pinning her against the wall behind her. She kicked at his shins, trying to get herself free. She snuck her hand down to her knife. He caught hand, clutching it in his. He took her other hand in his free hand, pinning both of her hands to the wall behind her.

"You're with Sakyo, too, aren't you?" she accused.

"What makes you think that?" he purred.

She bit her lip, taking another risk. She brought her head back and forward, headbutting him in the nose. He groaned in shock, letting her hands go to bring them up to his now bleeding nose.

She shoved him back, trying and failing to push him down to the ground. she did manage to get around him at least to make a break for it down the alley and back to the main street.

Or at least she could have if it was not for another man standing in the middle of alley before her. She skidded to a halt, drawing her knife from her waist before she lost the opportunity again. She was trapped between the black haired man and the new man. The new man looked sharply different. He had light skin, long red hair, and green eyes.

"Yasha," the red haired man called over to the man standing behind her. "Couldn't you have been more discreet about finding her. You've got blood running down your face and neck."

The black haired man, called Yasha, stumbled around her and towards the red haired man. "I'm aware of that, Kurama," he answered. "I wasn't planning on letting her do much damage." He wiped the blood away from under his nose. It did not take long for a new flow to replace it.

The one called Kurama dug into his pocket and handed Yasha a tissue. He was quick to shove them up his nostrils, stalling the blood. "This little demoness is quicker than I thought," he flubbed out.

"I'm not a demon. Or even part demon," she called out.

"Prove it," Yasha challenged.

She sighed. She bent down without taking her eyes off of either man. She rolled up her pant leg, revealing the three pinkish doxy scars on her lower leg. "Doxy attack. Any demon or part demon would have died."

Kurama simply studied her at a dead stare while Yasha raised his eyebrows in intrigue. "How does a non-demon come in contact with doxies?"

"A trio pack of them attacked a sheppard's flock near my town. Saif, mmm, Hiei and I took them out," she responded in fake confidence.

"He used a fake name, huh? Didn't realize he was smart enough for that," Yasha teased.

"Enough of this," she said, feeling herself grow impatient. "Where's Sakyo? Where's Hiei?"

"That's what we were hoping to ask you," Kurama stated, studying her with a cold look. "Would you mind coming with us to discuss this more privately?"

Her stomach twisted at the idea, not wanting to trust either one of these men. Yet they knew who Hiei and Sakyo were. No one else she had spoke with knew any of that.

They led her to a large inn with a giant dining hall. The hall was packed with lunchtime goers. Yasha was able to smooth talk his way into them getting a semi private table tucked in a corner underneath a staircase.

They spoke quietly. Both Yasha and Kurama revealed to her that they were both former pit fighters from the capital. They knew Hiei from the fiting pits. Yasha had not been indebted, but did it for sport. He had bought Kurama out of his own debt though. The perks of, surprisingly to her, being a bastard elf from a noble house.

"You're an elf?" she breathed out in shock at him across the table.

He smiled at her, narrowing his eyes. He flipped his dark hair away from his right ear, revealing the sharp slant and pointed tips of it. He let his loose hair go, covering his ear back up. "I'll take it from your face I'm the first one you've ever met?"

She nodded dumbly. "Why are you- why were you a pit fighter?"

"For the fun of it my dear," he teased over to her. "The thrill of the fight. Especially since Hayato is a country at peace. For now..." She stared at him dumbstruck, not sure what to say to him in response. "I think a cat's got your tongue. Or maybe a doxy?"

"How did you come in contact with Hiei?" Kurama asked her. "In detail this time," he insisted.

Numbly, she explained her first meeting with Hiei. Yasha thought it was entertaining that she had been afraid of him when they first met. He leaned forward, enthralled as she explained her bonding and training with Hiei. Kurama sat stone faced, but listening just as intently. She almost left out the kiss, but felt like with how Kurama was watching her that he would know she left something out. Yasha eyed her shrewdly when she mentioned that kiss, almost like he did not believe her. When she explained about Sakyo, his bounty hunters, and her poisoning, Yasha finally interrupted her.

"Wait, what kind of poison did he give you?" he asked.

"Nightlock," she said. "And then the bounty hunter threw me into the house. I assume they rode north, so I came this way."

"You're sure he said nightlock," Yasha hissed.

Kurama put his hand on his shoulder, pulling him back to sit up straighter. Nanashi noticed nearby patrons looking over at them. All three of them seemed to freeze until the patrons lost interest.

She nodded. "Nightlock. Hiei freaked out about it," she whispered.

"You're not demon though," Yasha commented. She nodded. "How did you survive that?" His voice was as harsh as he could be while trying to keep his voice down.

"I threw it up," she said. "And... someone... someone gave me a drink... cool, creamy something... and think healed my stomach and wrist... I don't know who it was, but I think what they gave me was an antidote."

She stopped, realizing Yasha was leaning forward towards her again, staring her like she had grown an extra head. Kurama was sitting still, frozen in his own composed posture. He did not look like he believed her either with the harsh way he was studying her.

"What?" she breathed, wanting to break the silence and the tension.

"Nightlock's poisonous to humans," Kurama said so quietly she almost did not hear him. "Fatally. You should have been dead before the juice hit your stomach."

"But the antidote-" she sputtered.

"There is no antidote," Yasha insisted. He sat up straighter and looked over at Kurama. He shook his head and said, "it must not have been nightlock."

"But Sakyo's used it before, for," Kurama cast her a side long glance. "Before. Besides, she said he meant to kill her since her uncle told her to run off with Hiei."

"That alone is fucked up," Yasha swore. Nanashi frowned, thinking an elf, even a bastard one, would not be that vulgar. "Someone could have given him the vial, saying it was nightlock when it was really like some blueberries or something."

"I've never been poisoned before, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened," she insisted. "It tasted sour, like rot and earthy. It burned as I swallowed and choked on it."

Yasha shook his head. "Could have been mixed with wine or something to give it not sweet flavor."

Kurama looked at her. "What color was it? The juice from the vial."

"Purple. A violent sort of purple," she explained.

Kurama flicked his gaze back to Yasha, who met it. "Not many things are that color naturally. As for that healer of yours, likely it could have been a hallucination from the nightlock." He turned back to her. "You said you lived with your uncle. What happened to your parents?"

She shook her head. "My mother died shortly after I was born. I don't know who my father was. My uncle assumed it was a demon of sorts." She held up her hands in a nonverbal gesture.

Kurama turned back to Yasha. "Elvish?" he queried.

"With how pale she is? Unlikely," Yasha considered.

"Sometimes human genes win over the elvish genes. Her father could have been a half elf or quarter elf. More human genes over elvish genes," Kurama thought aloud. "And it would explain how she survived. Nightlock only makes elves sick, but it isn't strong enough to kill them."

Her heart seemed to skip a beat. Before the doxy had scratched her leg, she assumed she was half demon. She had never imagined anything else since it fit. Then she assumed she was fully human because she survived the doxy attack. Now the two relative strangers sitting with her were quietly debating whether or not she was part elvish like she was not even there. It was impossible to wrap her head around.

"I can't-" she started as she stood up.

"Sit down before you have a panic attack or something," Yasha told her boldly. She did as she bid. He studied her face. "Some elves are lighter skinned than others. Not that light though. The king is lighter, and his hair a dark blonde. So is his son."

"Look, I just want to rescue Saif. I mean, Hiei," she insisted. "That's what I came here for. If don't have any leads and aren't going to help you, then you'll have to excuse me." She threw the threat to leave at them, but with no bit in her voice to back it up.

"Well, we're on the same page there," Yasha told her calmly. "He ran off after killing that pompous ass. He's not one to kill and run. Deadly in the ring. Never lost a fight. A friend of ours. We were trying to get to him before Sakyo did."

"So you'll help me save him?" she asked hesitantly.

The two men exchanged an unreadable glance. "That depends," Yasha started. "Are you going to get in the way?"

"I wasn't planning on it..." she mumbled out. "I can help with funds during our search. I did steal the money Sakyo gave my uncle," she admitted guiltily.

Yasha sucked in a breath. "Your uncle took that money?"

She nodded. "Sakyo forced it on him. As a gift."

"Did you spend any of it?" Yasha asked.

She fumbled. "A little bit. I wanted somewhere comfortable to rest. I've only just recovered from that nightlock poisoning and all. And my wrist injury." She felt like a small child caught in the wrong.

"Damn it," Yasha swore. He softly tapped the table with his fist. "This complicates things."

"Why?" she asked.

"It put your uncle, and now you in Sakyo's debt when you took the money," Kurama explained. "A gift from a man like that is expected to paid back with interest. You've got to give it back to him with that interest, or he'll use it as leverage to drive you deeper in debt. Or into the fighting pits."

"Or a whore house," Yasha threw in.

"But I-" she stuttered. "That's not what the word gift means."

"It does to the men in Sakyo's tax bracket," Yasha added. "Intriguing girl you turned out to be. Trying to break my nose, got a man I assumed was gay to kiss you, survived both doxy and nightlock poison, and is now running around with a millionaire's debt money in your bag. Not very elvish of you. Kind of fucked up if you think about it." She gaped at him, opened mouth. He turned back to Kurama. "So you want to team up with this intriguing girl? Rescue Hiei, who did actually commit that murder?"

She felt like a foolish child sitting in front of them. Kurama looked over at her. She threw him a pleading look. He closed his eyes for a span of a few breaths. "I guess so."


	15. Chapter 15

"Let's go, come on," Yasha said, rushing Nanashi to pack up her things in her room in one of the fancier inns in Gandara.

To her credit, Nanashi did move faster. Kurama stood waiting with their horses. He was kind enough to pay Nanashi's bill with the money Ruka had given them for their search for Hiei. She was the east side of the city, working her business. On one hand, it annoyed Yasha that Kurama did that, but on the other hand, it would be less money Nanashi would have to pay back to Sakyo.

"Where's Sakyo's money?" he asked her, checking to be sure.

"Buried in my backpack," she said.

"Don't lose it," he told her, leading the way out of her room door.

"I know, else wise I will have to pay it all back if I'm not careful," she repeated from a previous conversation they had with her.

It was already late morning. Yasha was anxious to get on the road before long. Thieves were common in the woods north of Gandara. He wanted to get passed the common thieving point by the evening.

It was midday when they finally got to the north gate of the city. It was crowded with what seemed like everyone and their mother trying to file out of this gate. People were walking since it was too crowded to move on horseback.

"Why can't some of these people use the other gates," Yasha grumbled. They had hardly moved in the last hour.

"Settle down. We'll get through," Kurama soothed.

Yasha gave him a half smirk, asking, "want to make a bet on it?"

Kurama knew what he meant as a bargaining chip when he said 'bet.' Kurama gave Nanashi a discreet glance behind them in line. "Not with..." he started.

Yasha pouted at him. "Come one, you know you can be quieter if you tried," he teased.

Nanashi stumbled on the uneven ground beneath her feet. She staggered and failed to stay on her feet. Her backpack, having been only slung on one shoulder, bounced its way into the crowd. "My bag!" she exclaimed.

Without another word, she shoved the reins of her horse into Yasha's hands before sprinting off after her bag.

It did not take her long to come loping back to her place in line. Her bag was muddy and had a slight tear on one seam, but it was otherwise fine. She explained that some young girl had brought it back to her at a run.

Nanashi managed to keep her footing as they finally managed to get through the north gate and hit the road at a fast pace north.

By the time the sunset, Kurama called for them to stop for the night, make dinner, and set up their tents. Nanashi cooked over the fire Kurama had lit while Kurama and Yasha set up the two tents. Yasha made sure to set up Kurama and his tent at a bit of a distance from Nanashi's tent.

After the quick dinner, Nanashi headed to bed early. She seemed like she was easily worn out and possibly still recovering from the nightlock poisoning. Her part elvish blood was the only thing that could have saved her from that.

Kurama and Yasha set up ropes around there camp set with bells that would sound if an intruder came into their camp. It had worked for them once when a rogue bunch of imps had stumbled their way into their camp. They had had just enough warning at that time to fend off those nightmarish little devils.

Yasha slipped into their tent, zipping their sleeping bags up to make a bigger one so Kurama would have no excuse to distance himself. It had been over a week since they had their own little time of fun.

Kurama slipped into their tent, first frowning then smiling slyly as he zipped up their tent behind them. "You'll be too loud," he challenged, eyes flashing gold for a split second.

Yasha beckoned him to join him in the sleeping bag. "You're usually louder. Besides, her tent is far enough away from ours. I made sure of that."

Kurama stood at the entrance of the tent, hunched slightly as the tent had a low ceiling. Very carefully, he peeled off his own shirt. He let it drop by the entrance of the tent. He slipped into the double sleeping bag with Yasha.

A spar of its own ensued with one of them trying to stay on top of the other. Yasha won, managing to pin Kurama down with subduing kisses along his neck.

"No marks," Kurama moaned softly.

"Don't be so loud," Yasha teased. Yasha let his hands roam beneath him, teasing along Kurama's chest and torso. "Mmm, so strong," he added. "So perfect."

His mouth roamed down Kurama's chest, kissing and sucking along his right side. Beneath him, he could feel Kurama hardening as he went at him. He set up, unzipping the double sleeping bag so he could get at undoing Kurama's pants. He scrambled his way out of the sleeping bag, while leaving Kurama laying there.

Once they were both situated how he liked, he undid Kurama's pants, smirking as he noticed how excited he had gotten. He put his finger to his lips. Kurama growled softly up at him. He then pulled Kurama's cock out of his boxers, bringing his mouth down around it.

Kurama's hands came down to his hair, clinging to it was he moved his mouth up and down. He hummed as he sucked, making Kurama let loose breathy moans.

He took his mouth away, warning him, "don't you need to be quiet?" He brought his mouth back down, sucking harder and humming more.

Kurama brought his hand up to his mouth in response, biting his knuckle. When he noticed Kurama was also holding his breath, he found he could not have that. Yasha reached his hand beneath his mouth, massaging his balls. This got him breathing and moaning aloud again, with how sensitive he was. It also did not take him long to finish after that.

Yasha swallowed and rolled himself up to a sitting position, laughing under his breath. He shushed the panting Kurama kneeling down beneath him.

After that, he crawled a little ways, reaching into his bag, and pulling out his canteen. He managed a few swigs of water before he felt Kurama pull him back over to the sleeping bags. Some of the water splashed on him, but he managed to cap it before Kurama had him on his back.

Kurama was quick to have his pants undone and his mouth on his cock before Yasha could hardly react. Yasha made sure to keep his sounds of pleasure subdued, otherwise the part human, part elf in the other tent might hear them. Kurama finished his off quickly.

Once they both sated, Kurama zipped up their combined sleeping bags around them and laid down on his back. Yasha was quick to roll over to him to cuddle. It was a little bit chilly at night, but the snuggling was always enjoyable and peaceful.

"So what do you think of our little part elf companion?" Yasha mused sleepily.

Kurama hummed under his breath. "Intriguing, a little worn out. A little young."

"Just come of age, too," Yasha commented. "Should I invite her in with us next time?" he teased.

Kurama smirked at that. "Not a chance. I don't like sharing."

Yasha rolled his eyes. "Never did. Her and Hiei, huh? Got her a little confused, interest peaked. She's interested in finding him again, that's for sure."

"He likely did it to calm her down," Kurama wondered. "Did you make sure she packed the remainder of Sakyo's money in her bag?"

"Yes," Yasha murmured.

"You saw her put it in her bag?" Kurama persisted.

"Yea- well, no. But she said she was certain she put it in there," he answered.

Kurama huffed. "She can't lose that money. She'll be deep in debt if she doesn't pay it back. You know what happens when that happens."

"I know," Yasha groaned sleepily. "Check her bag in the morning if you're so concerned."

"Plan on it," Kurama answered, half yawning.

Both of them slept undisturbed until morning. Kurama woke up Nanashi while Yasha made breakfast. After breakfast and packing up, Kurama asked Nanashi to let him check her bag. Cautiously, she handed it over. She left it with him while she got her own horse saddled up. He checked through it, frowning as he looked down inside of it.

"What's wrong?" Yasha asked, sensing Kurama's tension. Kurama shook his head and gritted his teeth.

Nanashi, having finished with her horse came over. Her hand was up next to her mouth, balled in a fist.

"How much did you have left of Sakyo's money?" Kurama asked her, handing her his bag.

"Over 900," she said sheepishly. She looked down and dug through the bag. She went pale, dumping the whole contents of her bag on the ground. Yasha watched her nervously. He only saw one wad of cash on the ground. "I had two wads of cash yesterday. 500 in each, minus what I spent in one of them. What happened?" her voice cracked. She gasped. "When I dropped my bag at the gate, one of them must have fallen out."

"Or been stolen," Yasha added in. "There was that kid who gave you your bag back."

She was panicking now, counting frantically at the one wad of cash remaining in her possession. She was crying and breathing erratically as she was doing so. "The 500 wad... is missing. I only have... 473... left..."

Yasha just watched, unsure what to do while Nanashi divulged into tears on the ground. Kurama did his best to kneel beside her and comfort her.

Once she finally calmed down, Kurama tersely decided, "we need to go back to Ruka."

Yasha gaped at him. "We already wasted enough time earning money for our search for her. Besides, you don't like her."

"Nanashi can get one from her to cover the money that was stolen. As a loan," Kurama reasoned, teeth grinding. He really did not like this idea.

"Who is he?" Nanashi asked them, wiping her eyes. She dejectedly began to repack her bag.

"She is a... business owner in Gandara," Yasha explained. "She used to live in the capital, but moved her business out here. It was easier for her to make money here and run her business the way she likes." Yasha hoped that was vague enough for Nanashi to understand. Yasha really did not like Kurama's idea either, but it was the best option available for her.

Nanashi finished packing her and closed it. She looked down at it and nodded forlornly.

They headed back into Gandara, going to the East side of the city to the are near Ruka's business. Once nearby, Kurama had Yasha stay behind with Nanashi in a tavern while Kurama went ahead to Ruka's business. Kurama seemed determined not to bring Nanashi to her for the loan if she could help it.

In the tavern, Nanashi sat next to Yasha, holding tightly to her bag. She had not even touched the drink he had gotten her. She turned to Yasha and sheepishly asked, "What kind of business does this Ruka run?"

Yasha mulled over how to answer that question. "It's a place where women entertain men, in various ways. Usually beautiful women, and talented women."

"Entertain them, how?" she asked.

"Depends on what the men want the women are willing to do. Drink with them, party with them, sing and dance for them, sleep with them on the rare occasions when the men can afford the ridiculously high prices. Courtesans, but more than that. Artists."

Nanashi blinked at him numbly, like she was surprised, but not surprised about what he explained. "That's what Sakyo wanted to make out of me," she mumbled. "Before, you know, he tried to kill me."

"Got to have talents for that first. Are you musical or artistic in any way?" Yasha asked her. She shook her head. "They can be well read or witty, too. Whatever entertains their clients. Ruka moving her business down to Gandara was a good call. There are few businesses down her like hers, but numerous ones in the capital. She loans out money pretty easy, in return for working of her."

Nanashi's face went pale and her eyes went a little wide. "What kind of work?"

"Depends on the borrowers gender and what kind of work they are willing to do. Kurama and I ran out of money on our hunt for Hiei after he ran off. We worked for Ruka as guards to get funds before we headed out again. And then we found your lovely self."

Nanashi fiddled with the cup in front of her. "If Kurama gets me a loan from her, can I work as a guard for her as well. Or like a cook or something?"

"She's usually pretty willing to let women who work for her do as they please. She's not like other loaners who force people to do things against their will," he answered. "Guards aren't the highest paid though."

"So she's not like Sakyo," Nanashi said with a sigh of relief.

Yasha hummed, "Mmm, Not completely."

The door of the tavern opened, making both Nanashi and Yasha look up out of curiosity. In walked a slightly scowling Kurama with a gorgeous red haired woman behind him. Ruka. Yasha stood up as the two of them walked over to their table. Nanashi clumsily along side of him.

Ruka studied Nanashi without any inhibitions. "So you're the girl who needs a loan?"

Nanashi bowed her head to Ruka. She nodded in answer. The four of them then sat down at the table together. Yasha noticed Kurama was not too keen about sitting beside Ruka. Yasha himself was not too keen about sitting across from her.

"So Kurama told me a vague story about you," Ruka began as she studied Nanashi's face. "There's some holes in it though. Hiei came to your port town, so did Sakyo. Sakyo gave your uncle a loan, but you stole it. And now Sakyo has Hiei captive and you want to rescue him."

Nanashi did not answer. Yasha answered for her, "yes, that's basically it. Enough for you to know."

Ruka smiled at her. "Cat got your tongue?" Nanashi bit her lip nervously, eyes downcast. "A shy, pale beauty. a rarity in this country. Kurama says you want to work for me in return for me to pay off your debt to Sakyo before he finds out you took the money and makes you work for him. What kind of work are you willing to do?"

Nanashi did not answer. Yasha spoke for her again, "we discussed it before you two came in. She would be willing to work as a guard or a cook."

Ruka looked disappointed. "For over 500 dollars, that would take quite a long time." Ruka's eyes lingered on Nanashi's chest. "Other kinds of work don't take that long to pay off."

"She's already said what she's willing to do," Yasha replied protectively.

"Why don't you let the girl speak for herself," Ruka retorted. Ruka turned back Nanashi. "Normally I make a debtor work for me immediately to pay off the debt I took over for them. You know, so they can't go running off and skip out of their debt. Yet Kurama and Yasha have pressed on me for the short time they worked for me that rescuing Hiei is of the essence. I'm willing to agree to take over your debt with Sakyo, but for it to be paid back after we rescue Hiei."

Nanashi looked up at Ruka, blinking vacantly. Yasha replied for her. "Did you just say 'we?'"

Ruka looked over at him. "Yes, we. I can't agree to take over her debt and then watch her skip town on her rescue mission like I turned a blind eye. That would be a poor investment on my part. I agree to take her debt over so long as I go with the three of you to help save Hiei."

"Why? You don't even like Hiei. You once tried to buy him out of his debt to be a guard at your old business in the capital and he refused you," Yasha pointed out. The idea made him cringe.

"I like the looks of you," Ruka replied, nodding over at Nanashi. "My offer is on the table, girl. Do you accept my terms? Speak for yourself this time."

"Um, Kurama?" Nanashi looked over at Kurama.

"It is the best option on the table for you," he answered with honesty. "Not ideal though."

"What's not ideal about it. I'll basically be the one funding this camping trip," Ruka said, offended.

"It's not a camping trip. It's a rescue. Sakyo has the Tuguro brothers with him, along with their two bitches," Yasha pointed out.

"Well, if I come along, I can pay Sakyo back in Nanashi's place sooner rather than later. Less money she'll owe him in the long run what with interest and all that," Ruka responded.

"Yasha," Kurama spoke with a cutting. "It's Nanashi's decision." His face looked like he had just tasted something quite sour.

"What do you say, girlie?" Ruka purred over at her.

Wordlessly, Nanashi nodded. Yasha bit back the groan of displeasure riding up the back of his throat.


	16. Chapter 16

Nanashi was not sure what to think of Ruka as she joined the three of them on their mission to rescue Hiei from Sakyo and the bounty hunters. She seemed friendly enough, genuine. She was surprisingly hardy when it came to traveling on horseback and camping. She seemed to fair better than Nanashi.

When the four of them left Gandara, Kurama did steal an opportunity to talk after they set up camp for the evening to Nanashi privately while Yasha distracted Ruka with trivial sounding conversation about Queen Minha.

Kurama pulled her aside and told her quietly, "be careful around Ruka."

"Why?" she breathed.

"She can be quite convincing when she wants to get her way," Kurama explained quietly. "She may try to convince you to agree to do other work for her when the two of you get back to Gandara. Don't agree to anything she wants if you are unsure or don't want to at all."

"What else might she try to get me to do?" Nanashi whispered.

Kurama pursed his lips. He looked back over at where Ruka and Yasha sat by the fire. He turned back to Nanashi. "She might try to convince you it'll be faster and more lucrative for you to... hmm... to sell yourself to pay back your debt to her." Nanashi stared at him, face going pale. "You have a unique look. A part elf that looks like a part demon, but are certainly half human. It could be intriguing to some of her clientele."

The very idea scared her. She shook her head. "I won't do that," she insisted.

"She may even try to seduce you into it," Kurama warned her. "She... likes women. More than men. The more intriguing they are, the better."

Nanashi went from pale to blushing at the idea. "I won't..." she started, not sure how to finish that sentence. "I don't like... I don't know if I like... women..."

Kurama put a finger to her lips. "You don't have to do anything with her or for her that you are not comfortable with. If you're not sure about doing something she asks, tell her no," he advised.

Nanashi swallowed thickly and nodded. "Okay."

Kurama led her back to the fire where Yasha and Ruka were. Nanashi watched Ruka out of the corner of her eye. She would be sharing a tent with this woman, be traveling with this woman, and sooner or later working for this woman.

When dinner was finished and cleaned up, Nanashi felt nervous about retiring for the night in the same tent as Ruka. She would have much preferred to be in a tent with Kurama or Yasha. The way the two of them carried on made her felt less uncomfortable.

When she entered the tent, Ruka was already laying in her sleeping bag. Nanashi was quick to get into her own bag with the chill of the night on coming.

Nanashi was hoping to lay down and go to sleep without conversation, but then Ruka commented, "hopefully those two are far enough away so we can get some sleep."

Nanashi was sleeping with her back turned to Ruka. The comment intrigued her. "Hmm, what do you mean?" she asked curiously, turning her towards Ruka's direction.

"They're lovers, you know," Ruka said in a husky voice. "A bastard elf from a noble house and human whose soul was possessed by a demon. Interesting pairing, don't you think?"

Nanashi turned around to face Ruka, the desire to not a have a conversation forgotten. "Kurama's part demon?"

Ruka was closer than Nanashi had thought. "He was dying in his demon form, so right before he died, he transferred his soul into an unborn human child's. Technically he would be classified as a half demon." Nanashi gaped at her. "Makes him stronger and an exceptional pit fighter. As for Yasha, well, few elves can boast that their half sister is the queen."

Nanashi raised herself up on her elbows, staring over at Ruka in shock. "He's a royal?"

Ruka shook her head. "His sister married into the royal family. Yasha's just the product of an affair their father had after Minha's mother passed away." Nanashi stared at her in disbelief. "You don't know your traveling companions very well. You're safe with them though. And with me, my dear." She gave Nanashi a demure look.

Nanashi felt herself blush in spite of herself. "I'm tired," she flubbed out. "Good night." She turned around and laid back down in her sleeping bag, back facing Ruka.

"Good night, sweetheart," Ruka breathed. Nanashi could have sworn she felt Ruka's hot breath on the back of her neck.


	17. Chapter 17

Day in and day out of riding and searching for Hiei were taking a toll on Nanashi. She hated all the riding. Cold nights where she had but no choice to cuddle up close to Ruka for warmth at night. After the first two nights of adjustment, Nanashi found she welcomed Ruka by her side. It became almost comfortable. Ruka was talkative, but kept her hands to herself for the most part. She did try to talk her into other kind of work she could do after they rescued Hiei, but Nanashi would shake her head.

The days riding was uncomfortable with the all day on horseback. Nanashi's knees ached tremendously from it. Yasha's talking and rambling with her about their lives helped. He spoke more freely than Kuram preferred, but he was entertaining about it. Ruka was at least willing to help rub the aches from her bruised inner legs. She likely would have done more if Nanashi had let her. She was quite an attractive woman...

This day, after lunch, she hated remounting her horse. Kurama had to give her a shove up on her mount. She winced as the pain in her knees cut through her.

"We'll find him soon," Kurama told her comfortingly. She heard the words unsaid though. She was in pain, but they could not slow down for her. She nodded, trying not to cry.

Kurama and Ruka rode ahead of them in steely silence. Yasha kept on riding next to her behind them, jabbering about something about the myths about angels and elves. She ignored him, not following what he was saying.

That was when the most soul wretching scream echoed through the woods. The trees seemed to shake at the sound. Yasha and Nanashi pulled their horses to a sudden halt. Both of them stayed stark still, ears straining to hear it again.

Ruka and Kurama surprisingly kept on riding. Nanashi went to call out to them when the scream sounded again. Yasha looked at her, studying her. "You heard it, too? I'm not imagining it?" She nodded, feeling like she could echo her words.

Kurama and Ruka had stopped ahead of them. "You alright? We need to keep moving," Kurama called out to him.

Yashsa shushed him. "We heard screaming." He looked around the woods. "But that's the stuff of legends..."

The scream sound again, rattling in Nanashi's soul. Nanashi, pain in her knees forgotten, flicked the reins on her horse. She rode at a gallop towards the screaming, with Yasha's horse at her heels. She stopped abruptly, hearing the screams coming from the sharp drop towards the ground near a stream about twenty feet below. She could not see anything, but she could hear the baleful moaning. She slipped off the side of her horse and stumbled her way down towards the stream.

"Nanashi, be careful," Yasha called out to her as he slid down the hillside after her.

Nanashi skidded to a halt when she saw the scene unfold before her. Three doxies stood before her, surrounding a huddle form, biting and tearing at its flesh even as it still lived. Her stomach dropped, nauseated at the sight of it.

Yasha came up behind her, swearing under his breath. "Fucking doxies, you've fought them before, right?" She nodded without taking her eyes off the scene. The form moaned again, making Nanashi want to do anything to stop its pain. Kurama had also come sidling down the hillside while Ruka stayed up with the horse. Yasha held his hand out to him. "Doxies. Demon soul makes you a half demon. You need to keep a distance." Kurama looked rueful at that, but stopped where he was. Yasha turned back to Nanashi. "Keep you eyes open," he whispered. "Go for the kill."

She nodded and then ran towards the three doxies. She drew the knife from her hip, knee pain forgotten. She heard Yasha swore after her, but followed after her with her sword drawn. The three doxies had realized now they were there. The bravest doxy turned to on her, claws out. It racked its claws in the air at her, but under shot it. She flicked her knife almost fearlessly across its throat. Clumsily, she cut off its hands and head, worried the other two might be on her. At a glance to her side though, she saw Yasha wielding his own sword, beheading one and slicing through the midsection of the other.

Nanashi turned away from her dead doxy, half crawling, half running towards the form huddled in a bloodied mess at the bass of a tall tree. It laid on its side, head resting on the ground. She could not tell if whoever it was was male or female, young or old, demon or elf or human. Its hair and clothes were once white. Bloodied feathers covered the ground before it. It was weeping, making her start to cry softly to herself.

Hesitantly, she reached her hand out, taking its in hers. Its eyes shot open, head turning up towards hers. Three gashes ran across its dark face. She pulled its hand into her chest, trying to show it she was here to comfort it.

She heard both Yasha and Kurama come up from behind her. She looked behind her just enough to see the two of them. They kept their distance though. Yasha looked shocked and was crying silently while Kurama looked perplexed.

"Help it," she begged desperately.

"Help what?" Kurama asked.

At the same time, Yasha said, "he's beyond helping..." He turned to Kurama, embracing him and laying his head down on his shoulder.

She turned back to it, to him, whoever he was. She pulled him up and over to her. She recoiled when she felt bones and feathers behind his back. He clung to her with the last ounce of his strength. She held him, crying openly with whoever he was. If she had not been so sad, she would have been uncomfortable. He was so cold and so blood soaked.

"Sis... ter," he rattled out. "Live... on."

She frowned at him, not sure what she was he meant. His hand then slid down from her shoulder and seized her foot with bone crushing force. She screamed out in fright and pain. She felt frozen, seeing a semi white coil slither down his neck and to his hand; right towards her ankle.

"No!" Yasha shouted, tearing himself from Kurama. "She's not angelic! She's elvish!"

Nanashi watched, unblinking as the white coil crawl down towards her foot. She closed her eyes, threw he head back, and wailed as it forced its way up her foot. She felt the form clutching her slump heavily against her, in like another world. The pain searing up her leg was forefront in her mind, even as she collapsed part way to her back with the form partly on top of her. She wailed, voice cracking at how painful this was. Worse than the nightlock poison. Yasha was almost upon her when Kurama pulled him back.

The pain strove higher, burning up her torso. The pain in her leg had not lessened a bit. The new pain was just adding to it. Pain even shot down her untouched leg. When the pain hit her upper back, it felt double there while it spread through her shoulders and down her arms. When it hit her head, a bright white flash of light danced behind her eyes. An explosion seemed to sound in her ears and behind her back. She felt her shirt grow tight and tear.

The pain ebbed down slowly, like the rise and fall of a beating tide. She panted beneath, sensing only her chest rising and falling in deep breaths. She felt enough wherewithal ebb back into her. She shoved the now dead form off of her middle, scooting back away from it. She stopped when she felt... something.. a part of her body... scrape against the ground. She craned her neck to look behind her back. Brilliantly white wings hung from her upper back with tattered remains of the back of her shirt in the mixed. She felt a shocking heat simmer under her neck. The coil appeared around her neck, a small serpent hissing up at her. It boldly nuzzled her check affectionately.

'New mistress,' a hiss sounded in her head. 'I will serve you loyally.'

She gasped, not sure how to respond. She turned to look over at Kurama and Yasha standing together before her. She pushed herself onto her hands and feet, feeling the heavy weight of her newfound wings behind her back. Her head rushed, making her swoon. Her arms and legs collapsed beneath her. The last thing she remembered was an image of Yasha stumbling towards her.


	18. Chapter 18

Nanashi felt sore and cramped when she came to. She was sitting upright against a tree, vines binding her tight. Her... wings... ached behind her back from being pinned down so tightly to her back. She blinked, looking up at the scene before her.

Kurama stood nearest to her, watching her with an icy cold stare. Ruka stood a distance away with their four horses tied to trees near her. She looked concerned. Lastly was Yasha behind Kurama, but in front of Ruka. He had the dead and mutilated form laid out in front of him. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks as he worked. He was examining the body.

Yasha looked up at Kurama, voice cracking slightly. "The doxies didn't kill him. He was already weakened significantly before the doxies got to him. It looks like..." Yasha gagged.

Kurama did not take his eyes off her. "It looks like what?"

"Someone harvested parts of his body," Yasha choked out. He stood up and went over to another part of the clearing they were in, dry heaving.

Kurama hissed up his breath. "Must be a dark crone nearby. We shouldn't stay here for long."

Yasha came back to stand near Kurama. "Then let's get moving. Before the sun sets."

He stepped towards Nanashi, but Kurama's hand shot out and griped his shoulder. "Stay back," he growled.

Yasha shook him off and wiped around to face him. "She's angelic, clearly. She's not a danger to us. Untie her, now."

Nanashi quelled, watching the tense stand off between the two lovers. "I will question her first," Kurama had not backed down. "Go and burn the angel's body before the dark crone comes back to harvest the rest of him."

Yasha clenched his fists tightly. He punched Kurama in the jaw, but he withstood unflinching. Only his head jerked back in reaction. Yasha muttered darkly under his breath. He went over to the dead angel, picking it up. "Ruka, help me. Now that he's dead, you can see him. Angels are invisible to the non-angelic only when they are alive."

Nanashi felt herself grow extremely apprehensive when she watched the two of them leave with the dead body. She was left alone with Kurama. The way he was looking at her alone sent chills down her spine. He stepped closer to her. She tried to scoot farther away, but the tree behind her limited her motion. She hummed frighteningly under her breath.

"I have a feeling you haven't been very honest with us," Kurama said is harsh yet quiet voice.

"I have been," she whispered, looking up at him.

"Good," Kurama started. "If you're honest, the vines around you will do absolutely nothing more. If you lie or try to lie, they will tighten and constrict. Do you understand?" Nervously she nodded. "Who was your mother?"

"A human named Astuko," she answered.

"Who was your father?" he questioned.

"A-" she almost said demon, but stopped as the vines got tighter. She winced and whimpered.

"I warned you what would happened if you lied," Kurama hissed down at her. She saw his eyes flash gold.

"I don't know who he was," she croaked out. The vines made it hard to speak, but surprisingly not hard to breathe.

"What race was he?" he insisted.

She shook her head. "I don't know." The vines grew looser. She could breathe more easily.

Kurama frowned down at her. "What were you going to say before the vines tightened?"

"My uncle always said he was a demon. I didn't know until after Hiei and I fought the doxies and I got scratched that I knew it was a lie," she rushed out.

Kurama growled. "How were you able to see and hear the angel?"

She shook her head. "I don't know." The vines stayed loose around her.

'Mistress,' a voice sounded in her head. 'Let me out and I'll get the vines off of you.'

She gasped to herself, not sure what was up with that now. Kurama kept questioning her. "How long have you had wings?"

"Since... right after that angel touched me," she answered.

"What did the angel pass along you? Yasha says he passed a weapon of sorts along to you."

She shook her head. "I don't know."

'Let me out, mistress,' the voice sounded again in her head.

"It... wants me to let it out..." she moused.

Kurama's eyes went wide. "Let what out?" He looked scared himself now.

'Let me out,' the voice sounded.

She nodded. "Okay."

She was not sure what to expect, but could tell by the shocked look on Kurama's face it was a sight to behold. A small serpent rose up, as if from her shoulders and chest. It rested comfortably around her neck. She watched it cautiously. It nuzzled her cheek affectionately. Then reared its head towards Kurama and loosed a vicious hiss.

"What is that?" Kurama demanded.

'The wind serpent,' the voice told her.

"The wind serpent," she echoed. The vines did not move around her.

At her sounding of its name, it slithered down her neck rapidly, breaking the vines wrapped around her with surprising ease. She gasped as the vines fell down around her in clumps.

Kurama watched her like a hawk as the wind serpent slithered its way back up to roost on her neck. "What are you?"

She shook her head, "I don't know."

"She's an angel," Yasha's voice called over to them.

"Where's Ruka?" Kurama asked.

"Tending the funeral fire," Yasha answered as he waltzed over to the two of them. "She doesn't seem too keen about being told to do grunt work," he added with a smirk. He stopped in front of Nanashi, holding his hand down to her. She took it, letting him help her up. She stood near him, wary of Kurama. Her wings stretched behind as if they had a mind of their own. "I've told you the lore of angels before, Kurama. You've just laughed it off as fairy tales."

"Tell me," Nanashi said, clinging to his arm fervently.

He guided her to walk with him back towards where he had left Ruka. He spoke as he walked. "You know of the goddess of the Hayato nation, yes?" She nodded. "She is said to be a giant hawk-like creature. Immortal, but unattached to the physical world. She lives in her own realm of existence. She has servants in her realm. Angels. They serve her loyally, both in her realm and ours. They help her ferry the dead elvish to the the after life. They also are sent as her messengers in this realm to help guide turn of events. As guardian angels, as warriors, and as advisers to the leaders of this country.

"Yet angels are not perfect beings, just as we are not perfect beings. They are mortals when they are on our world. They can stray, they can fall, they can sin and trap themselves on world to die a mortal death. Perhaps your father was one such who strayed, leaving you a half angel, half human."

They had reached Ruka and the funeral pyre. She watched silently as the body of the fallen angel burned before her.

"Then why do I look like a demon?" she asked solemnly.

"If your father was fallen, that could happen," Kurama's voice came up behind them. Nanashi flinched closer to Yasha.

"Keep your distance and your questions," Yasha told him.

Kurama gave him a smile that did not reach his eyes. "I deserved that," he admitted. He turned to Nanashi. "Sorry for the questioning. You do understand why I did that, right?"

She hummed. "Because I suddenly sprouted wings?"

She had not meant it as a joke, but Yasha chuckled at her words anyway. A sense of comradeship sprouted up between the four of them. Yasha commented, "a half fallen angel, a demon in a human's body, a former courtesan, and a bastard elf on a quest to save a foolish demon who killed the wrong rich guy. Sounds like an adventure to me."


	19. Chapter 19

There was no more horseback riding for Nanashi after that. She flew while the others rode. Her horse was relegated to pack horse. She was tasked with scouting ahead while the others rode. She looked around in earnest for signs of Sakyo and the others, hoping in earnest they could find Hiei before they reached the capital. She found signs of old camping ground and camp fires, which made a promising sign, if they were the right trail.

In the mornings and evenings, she would talk with Yasha, trying to get every bit of lore about angels out of him. He seemed slightly annoyed with her about this and would point out things he had already told on their previous riding. He nevertheless kept talking. He told her angels were servants of the hawk goddess of the Hayato elvish clan, the Great Hawk Spirit. Hence why they had bird-like wings. They were her servants and would help her ferry the dead elves or part elves to the afterlife for judgement. According to legends, the Great Hawk Spirit would also send angels down to the world from her realm to intervene in times of crisis; sometimes as warriors, sometimes as advisers, and sometimes as just witnesses. When they were on the world, only those who were elvish or part elvish could see or hear them while they were alive. Legend said that was because elves were descended from angels who decided to live out the rest of their lives on the world. Her angels were also considered holy beings. That was why they had white hair and white wings. The warrior angels would be armed with supernatural weapons, like the wind serpent Nanashi had unexpectedly inherited from the fallen warrior angel, Kaze, right before his death.

Nanashi had learned from the wind serpent that Kaze had been sent to the world to stop the dark crone, Kurai, who lived in the forest they were currently traveling in. Apparently this Kurai had acquired a certain cape off a mage she killed, the cape of no return, which, in the wrong hands, could have devastating consequences. The cape, once thrown over a person, would transfer them to a place where they would die. The Great Hawk Spirit wanted it found and destroyed. She had tasked Kaze to go and destroy it, but he had underestimated Kurai. She bound him and magicked him so he would be unable to fight against her. She then harvested as much as she could of his body for her magical stores that he could survive. She even tried to take the wind serpent from him, but desisted when she realized removing it would kill him. She was not interested in killing him outright.

Once she had taken all she wanted of him, she used the cape of no return on him, which in turn, dumped him in the woods right by a pack of hungry doxies. That was where Nanashi, Yasha, and Kurama had found him. Kaze had sensed Nanashi was half angel, even though she did not know it at the time. He gave her the wind serpent, telling it to go and serve her now and to charge her with destroying the cape of no return. Nanashi found it necessary to agree with the wind serpent to take up that charge, but only if it helped her rescue Hiei and pay back her debt to Ruka. It agreed without qualm.

Nanashi spent her days communicating with thte wind serpent as well as flying. At her, it was hard to build up the strength in her newly acquired wings. She was still adjusting to having them in their feathery glory. Her hair also got in her way when she flew. She was still trying to adjust to go from raven black to brilliant white. It was a side effect of sorts from the wind serpent grafting itself onto her soul. At Yasha's suggestion, she started to braid it into two braids on either side of her head so they would be out of her wings' way. He told her that was the way elvish women warriors wore their hair.

At nights, she continued to share a tent with Ruka. It was so cold that they would spend the nights sharing their sleeping bags zipped up together. Her wings were an added level of warmth for them. They could also easily be tucked up behind her back when she was not flying. The only difficulty she had were shirts and bras. She had to tear the upper back out of her shirt and squirm her way into her clothes every morning without bunching up her wings. Ruka was more than willing to help her out.

With Ruka, Nanashi had started feeling closer and more comfortable with her. She enjoyed spending time with her one on one. She did keep trying to convince her to do more when she worked for her than just as a guard. Being a half angel and 'stunning,' she said it would take her only one night with a wealthy man to make her rich beyond her wildest dreams.

Ruka brought it up again as they lay down to sleep. "You would have been able to pay off the whole debt with one night before your angelic-ness came out," Ruka was saying as she rested her head against Nanashi's shoulder. "But now, with those wings and wind serpent, you could get any man to beggar himself for you."

The thought did Nanashi flush. Or maybe it was because she was right next to Ruka, enjoying that cuddling. She was rather beautiful. "No," she breathed, shifting her wings beneath her.

Ruka turned her head to look up higher at Nanashi. Her eyes stared at her lips. "Maybe even a kiss and a touch from the right man would be enough to pay me back," she hinted suggestively. Ruka's hand rested gently on her stomach.

Nanashi felt her heartbeat speed up. "I can't help but doubt that," she thought aloud. "Before Saif, I mean Hiei, no one really looked at me that way. Acted that way towards me. They were all scared or intimidated about the rumor my uncle started that I was half demon."

Ruka clicked her tongue against her teeth. "Sounds like those down South in that town you grew up in are rather closed minded. You'd be better off with me in Gandara." She moved her head so close that Nanashi could feel some of her auburn hairs tickle her face.

"Maybe..." she murmured. "After we rescue Hiei. And then after I destroy the cape of no return. I don't know how long-"

She was cut off, in shock when Ruka moved suddenly. She pressed her hand on Nanashi's torso more firmly as she brought her mouth down on Nanashi's. Nanashi flinched and then froze, not quite sure what exactly was happening. Ruka brought her head back up, just barely lingering above Nanashi's. Her face was flushed and her eyes stayed trailed on Nanashi's lips. She kissed her again, making Nanashi gasp against her mouth. A small spark seemed to ignite with Nanashi. She could not decide if she wanted to keep the kiss going or to end it. She turned her head away, looking towards the other side of the tent. Ruka pulled herself away from her as far as the double sleeping bag would allow. Nanashi turned herself onto her side, facing away from Ruka, mind numb and heart racing. Neither of them spoke. Nanashi waited for herself to fall asleep, feeling slightly feverish.

The next morning lead to an awkward silence between the two of them. Nanashi flinched when Ruka went to help her dress, but allowed her to help anyway since it was either ask her or Yasha. She felt more comfortable with Ruka helping her. Yasha often wore gloves, but when Nanashi had asked him why, he would just give her a vague answer that she was better off not knowing.

Nanashi spent the rest of the day flying, scouting. Her mind wandered about the kiss Ruka had given her and the excitement she felt thinking about it. She found an abandoned camp fire that was fresh looking. She was excited, thinking they were getting closer and closer to Hiei. She just wanted to find him to the point where she could hardly stand it. She went back to where the others were riding, so excited to share her discovery that her awkwardness was forgotten.

Yet her awkwardness did return when night fell and she and Ruka were alone in their tent. Nanashi kept herself at a shy distance, even as she slipped into the shared sleeping bag with Ruka.

Ruka climbed in, keeping herself at as much of a distance as the sleeping bag allowed her. "Did you see anything else on your scouting?"

"No," she admitted, turning herself to face Ruka. "But we're getting closer to him. I can sense it."

Ruka gave her a sultry look. "What are you going to do with him when we rescue him?"

"What do you mean?" Nanashi asked, daring to snuggle a little bit closer to her.

Ruka gave her a smirk, moving herself closer, too. "Fly him off for a little one on one time?" Nanashi flushed at the thought. She shook her head. "You like him, don't you? That's why you've been so shy with me last night and all day. You're scared I might seduce you away from him."

Nanashi blushed crimson, having the idea of Hiei next to her in her mind, while it was actually Ruka next to her. "I... I'm... not..." she stuttered out. She felt like the sleeping bag was almost too warm for comfort.

Ruka moved to be pressing up against Nanashi's arm. "So you don't want him here with you, right here, right now?" she teased. Her hand reached out and rested down upon Nanashi's stomach. It felt eerily familiar. "Not wishing he were here to touch you?" Nanashi closed her eyes, face flushing. "Caress you?" Ruka whispered in her ear. "To kiss you?" Nanashi felt her breathing deepen. Nanashi felt herself grow a bit colder when Ruka suddenly pulled herself away. Nanashi opened her eyes, blinking over at her. "If you want another kiss, you'll have to come over here and get it," Ruka purred. Nanashi looked at her, feeling suddenly rather nervous. "Would you dare if I were Hiei?"

Nanashi rose to meet her challenge. She rolled over to Ruka, kissing her clumsily. It did not take many seconds for Ruka to take the lead, pushing her onto her back. Ruka pressed one hand underneath her ribs, almost like she was holding her down on her back. Ruka's lips pressed more firmly on hers, trying to get her to open her mouth. Ruka brought her free hand up to her jaw, stroking it. She relaxed her mouth, letting Ruka slip her tongue into her mouth in a rush. She followed Ruka's lead, letting her twist her tongue around hers in a joyful entanglement. She felt her warmth spreading throughout her chest.

Ruka kept kissing her, breathing deeply in her own right. Nanashi gasped as she felt her hand snake down to the bottom of her shirt, stroking her bare skin. Ruka hummed a laugh under her breath before renewing her dominating kisses. Ruka's hand roamed over her torso, skirting around the hem of her pants, the edge of her bra, and back again. Nanashi felt herself grow so warm she could hardly stand it.

Ruka finally pulled her mouth away from Nanashi. Nanashi stared up at her, not sure what to do or to say. Ruka smirk down at her lustfully before rolling herself over onto of her, straddling her waist. Nanashi felt apprehension rising in tandem with the heat she felt flushing through her. Ruka's hands came to rest on her shoulders, leaning her upper back down over her. "How far would you let him go?" she teased. Her hands stroked the tops of her shoulders teasingly. Ruka's hands came behind the collar part of Nanashi's shirt. "Would you let him take your shirt off?"

Nanashi stared up at her, transfixed. Nanashi raised herself up on her hands, allowing Ruka to pull the collar up over her head. The back was cut off the shirt to make room for her wings, so if she wanted to completely remove the shirt, it would have to come off by being pulled down over her legs. Ruka did just that. Nanashi felt herself tense up shyly, as Ruka crawled back up and over top of her. Her hands slipped behind Nanashi's upper back and beneath her wings to unhook her bra. Nanashi closed her eyes and held her breath as it was removed. Her chest felt so warm, but the air around her felt so cold. It was a surreal feeling.

She felt and heard the rustling of clothes above her. She opened her eyes to see Ruka had stripped off her own top and bra. Nanashi let lose a slight moan at the sight. Ruka was gorgeous, full chested, and unabashedly unafraid. Nanashi brought her hands up in front her mouth, partially covering up her own chest when she would have rather reached up and touched the woman in front of her.

Ruka gave her a smoldering look. "Would you cover yourself up for him?" she asked as she moved her hips back and forth over top of Nanashi. Nanashi whimpered, almost frightened when Ruka reached her hands down and took Nanashi's in hers, fingers interlocking. Using her hands, Ruka half pulled, half coaxed to her to sit up. Ruka shifted down her lap to make room for it. Nanashi's head ended up aligned with Ruka's neck. Ruka's hands came to rest on her hips just above her pants. "Would he let you touch him back?" Ruka whispered down at her.

Nanashi felt her hands come to rest against Ruka's side as if on their own accord. She raised her head up, kissing her hesitantly. Ruka purred against her mouth, opening her up to let her kiss her deeply, taking the lead this time. Nanashi was nervous she was pushing too far. She strained to since any sign of resistance from Ruka. She felt none. She kissed down to the side of Ruka's neck, as if on instinct. Ruka hummed down at her breathily, snaking a hand up to her hair, fiddling with it in its loose state.

Nanashi nuzzled her neck, not sure what else she should do. She peered down at Ruka's chest. Ruka brought the hand from her hair down to her chin, tilting her face up to her. She ran her thumb across Nanashi's lips. She then rocked her hips forward and back against Nanashi's lap. Nanashi panted huskily. Then Ruka reached her free hand down to Nanashi's and pulled it up to cup her breast. Nanashi just held it there.

"Would he let you touch him?" Ruka breathed down at her.

Nanashi nodded, giving her a tentatively squeeze and caress. Ruka purred down at her encouragingly. Nanashi felt her face flush as she looked down at her bare chest. She shyly kissed her chest, between her two large breasts. Her hand stroked absentmindedly as she did this.

Ruka gave a soft chuckle. "He would really like how innocent you are."

Nanashi looked up at her without meeting her eyes. Ruka took her hands in hers again, interlocking fingers once more. Ruka pushed her down onto her back, placing her hands on either side of her head. Ruka kissed her. Nanashi kissed her back readily, enjoying what they were doing more and more.

Ruka kissed her way towards Nanashi's ear. "I'll show you how men like him would like to be touched."

She nuzzled her to turn her head away from her so she could kiss behind it. Her lips barely touched her skin, but it sent shivers down her spine. Her lips headed down, going lower and lower. Nanashi closed her eyes, using on her sense of touch to feel Ruka's lips moved down the side of her face to the side of her neck. Then on down to her chest. Ruka's hand came her breast, cupping its smaller shape. Nanashi gasped noisily as Ruka slipped her nipple into her mouth. She sucked on it with unsuspecting intensity, making Nanashi arch her lower back. Ruka kept sucking on it at a pulsing rhythm, making her squirm beneath her. Her teeth bit down gently on the area surrounding her nipple while her tongue danced across it. Nanashi legs shuffled beneath her. She both wanted to squirm away and give into the tense feeling rising up in her.

Ruka gave the breast she had been teasing a soft kiss. She glanced up at her through he eye lashes. Nanashi's hands clenched nervously at the side of her head, where Ruka had set them down.

Ruka looked back down at her chest. "Would he play with the other one as well?"

Without waiting for a reply, she went to Nanashi's other breast, taking the untouched nipple into her mouth. She whimpered, panting heavily. She bit her hard this time around, making her cry out. Her back arched, legs twitching.

Ruka gave a soft laugh, bringing her mouth of her chest. Nanashi stared up at her, unsure where Ruka might go from here. Ruka smiled down at her in a way that made her both excited and nervous.

"Would you let him go any farther tonight?" Ruka whispered hopefully down to her. Ruka's hands came to rest at the top of her pants. Nanashi bit her lip, not sure what answer to give. "It would help burn off the heat coursing through your veins right now." Ruka rolled off of her, but laid next to her. Her hand stayed on the top of her pants. "The burning, intense heat you're feeling." Her hand came down to the center of her legs. "A feeling you would let him do to you?" Her index finger stroked up and down.

"I..." Nanashi panted out. Two fingers now stroked her, up and down, up and down tortuously. "I..." she panted again. Her head felt foggy and her center felt aflame. "Please," she pleaded, not sure what even she met.

Ruka took that as a go ahead. She undid her pants, making Nanashi bring her fists to her mouth. "How would he fuck you? So hard he'd make you scream?" Ruka asked her. Her hand came to the top of her fold, teasing at her clit expertly. "He would enter you, make you his own, for the night. I won't do that though. I'll let you save that for whoever you truly want to give yourself to, fantasy not included. Whoever you give that to, better have earned it. With love, money, or whatever else your heart desires."

Nanashi cried out, not sure exactly what was happening now. Her legs twitched, wanting to close, but wanting to spread at the same time. She felt so hot and so tense she could not stand it anymore. Ruka's hand stilled when Nanashi wished she would keep going. She pulled Nanashi's pants down to the tops of her knees, taking her panties with them. Ruka brought her mouth to her clit, licking and sucking on it with the same intensity as her breasts earlier. Nanashi covered her mouth, moaning into her hands. Nanashi arched her back, feeling an intense coiling turned release engulf her senses.

She then laid down very still beneath Ruka, panting in and out, ready to fall asleep all of sudden. She hardly moved as Ruka dressed her.

"Rest easy, sweetness," Ruka purred down at her. "No need to reciprocate tonight."


	20. Chapter 20

Kurama kept the scowl off his face when he saw the two women after they left their tent the next morning. He could smell the subtle scent of sex off of both of them. He warned both of them not to do anything like that together, but Ruka likely seduced her, much to Kurama's distaste.

Kurama did not say anything to Yasha, but he could tell by the way Yasha was silently studying both Nanashi and Ruka, that he knew what was up. To Nanashi, he commented, "your hair and wings have gone a bit off white."

Nanashi blinked over at him. "Have they?" she asked mousily.

Kurama studied Nanashi's hair and wings as well, having not noticed the color change at first. It was there, but so slight. A sign of an angel that has sinned, according the legends Yasha liked to discuss. Nanashi did seem to noticed though. Kurama caught sight of her studying one of her two braids before they headed out for the morning.

Kurama sent Nanashi out to scout ahead, biding his time until she was out of sight to approach Ruka on her walking horse. "Cold night last night, wasn't it?" he asked her steadily. He noticed after he came up to her left side, Yasha came up on her right. Nanashi's extra horse trailed next to Yasha's horse.

"Yes, quite so," Ruka commented demurely. "Were you able to keep each other warm last night?" She cast one glance at Kurama and another at Yasha.

"We did actually," Yasha answered with a smirk. "And what about you and Nanashi? She keep you warm enough?"

Ruka shot Yasha a shrewd look. "Plenty," she answered simply.

"Her wings look especially warm. Wide, light, and feathery. Like a bony blanket?" Yasha asked.

"She prefers to lay on her back," she replied.

Yasha clicked his teeth. "On her back? All night?"

"What are you getting at?" Ruka's voice was growing short.

Kurama reentered the conversation, "how much could she get for one night of service for you in your business? If she agreed and sold her first night to pay you back?"

Ruka frowned, calculating it in her head. "Before she turned angelic, 200 easy. Expensive because of her demonic look. Now that her wings and angelicness have surfaced, 2,000 would be a good starting bid."

Yasha growled quietly under his breath. Just pleasure and numbers. Kurama responded, "then whatever the two of you did last night, she's paid you back in full for taking over her debt with Sakyo, no matter how high he raises it."

Ruka brought her horse to a skidding halt. The vicious look that crossed her face made her look ugly. "Excuse me?"

Kurama stopped along side her, staring her down. Yasha spoke next, "whatever you did with Nanashi last night has to be worth at least 2,000, surely. Her hair and wings are off white now. She's been touched outside of marriage. By you. Angels who sin show their sin outwardly by the color of their hair and wings."

Ruka's face was insolent. "I didn't take her virginity. I held back from that."

"Held back, how wonderful," Yasha sneered. "Everything but..."

"What do you want?" Ruka asked, looking at both of them.

"You're leaving us. You've grown tired of camping and pursuing Sakyo," Kurama told her. "You will go back to Gandara and send money to Sakyo's business in the capital to pay Nanashi's debt back in full."

"Make me," she seethed.

Kurama looked past her, towards Yasha. He nodded, "Yasha."

Yasha sighed, pulling off his gloves. "I'm going to be tired after this. You better be nice enough to let me go to bed early tonight."

"What are you doing?" Ruka asked, looking nervously at Yasha's hands. "You wear gloves? Since when?" Yasha seized Ruka's hand in both of his. "What are you doing? Let me go."

Yasha looked up at Kurama, nodding. Kurama covered his ears so he could not hear a thing. He read Yasha's lips as he ordered Ruka, 'you will do exactly as Kurama said in a nature and timely manner.' He let Ruka's hands go, bringing one hand up to his mouth to stifle a yawn.

Ruka hissed through her teeth. "I'm sick of all this camping, sick of hunting after Sakyo. I'm going home. I'll pay Nanashi's debt back when I get there." Without another word, she spurred her horse to back up and to right South, back towards Gandara.

"Good riddance," Yasha said sleepily. He pulled his gloves back on and kicked his horse to get it walking. "If I fall asleep on my horse, just make sure I don't fall off. She tried to resist."

"Of course she did," Kurama said, getting his horse to walk next to Yasha's. "I warned Nanashi about her. I should have shared a tent with Ruka..."

Yasha shook his head and laughed. "Then I would have had to be the one to seduce Nanashi. I don't know how well that would have worked."

"It would if you wanted to be castrated by a jealous lover," Kurama warned him coyly.

Yasha barked a laugh. "I forgot. You can make a joke every now and again. A poor one, but a joke all the same."

The two of them rode on, smirking to themselves as they went, waiting for Nanashi to come back.

It took her two hours after Ruka had left to come fly down to them in a mad rush. She landed next to them, panting. "I saw them, I saw them! They're not far from here. We can get there by this evening if we're lucky!" She hunched over, placing her hands on her knees. "Wait... where's Ruka?" she added, looking downtrodden.


	21. Chapter 21

Hiei awoke, shivering in a cold sweat. That same recent, reoccurring nightmare. The dark crone standing over him, cackling with a large needle in her hand. He jumped awake. The muscular one knelt down, hoisting him up by the ropes infused with draining wards binding his hands behind his back. He mercilessly placed Hiei on the back of his horse and tied him down to the saddle.

"Water," he croaked, throat parched. The muscular one grunted under his breath, but grudgingly gave him a drink from a luke warm canteen.

"Enough," the small one shrieked. "He only needs enough to keep him alive long enough to kill him in the capital. When we pass him off to the widow." The muscular one just grunted again, acting like him just serving water was a waste of his abilities.

Hiei felt the jerk when they went forward for the day on their horses. He had long given up on asking for food. They would not 'waste' it on him. It was worse after they had given him to the dark crone. He recalled it unwillingly.

They had just passed through Gandara, picking up supplies along route to the capital. The procurer had also met with friends of his to catch up with them. North of the capital, the procurer said he wanted to meet someone to buy an intriguing item she was rumored to have. He led them to the dark crone's cabin in the woods. He figured he would just the means to pay her.

They went to the dark crone, where the procurer approached her alone, leaving the others outside while he spoke with her in her small cabin. Hiei saw twice that the two of them looked out the window by the door, only to disappear again into the center of the house.

Time eked on. It felt like hours when the procurer and the dark crone finally came out of the cabin. The procurer held in his arms a ratty looking grey cloak. It had a sinister aura coming from it. The procurer held it like it was the most precious and fragile thing.

The dark crone was smiling in a frightening way. It sent chills down Hiei's spine. "Which ones?" she asked in an excited voice.

"The bound one," the procurer answered. "You can take what you want without killing him." Hiei felt like he wanted to flee. The procurer pointed to the bomber and the larger, masked one. The masked one looked uneasy on his large horse. "You can one of the two of them."

"For keeps?" the dark crone asked. She looked ready to drool.

The procurer nodded. "Just be quick with the bound one. I need him alive when we get to the capital."

The dark crone's face was terrifying and happy. "I want the big one, of course."

"No," the masked one spoke up for the first time in Hiei's earshot. "No," he insisted.

"You're debt to me is higher than his," the procurer said, nodding to the bomber. "Besides, she chose you."

"NO! I will not die at her hands!" the masked one shouted. His voice was muffled behind his masked.

"Your debt is paid and full if you do this," the procurer said calmly. "You can go willingly or she can magic you." The masked one let loose a raging shout before turning his horse around and charging off wildly. The procurer shook his head. "Go get him," he permitted. The small one smiled with glee as he and the muscular one charged off into the woods on their horses. "Bring him inside," the procurer told the bomber.

The bomber loyally dragged Hiei off of his his horse and over to the dark crone. The dark crone gave him a sinister smile. The bomber said nothing in response, but shivered. He shoved Hiei into the cabin.

That was where the nightmares always began. The small cabin house a bed and a small version of a kitchen, but down below a staircase that went underground. The cold smell of the dead crept up from there.

Hiei dug his heels in the ground, not wanting to go down there. "No," he pleaded. "No, no." He struggled against the bomber. He tried to escape from the cabin while the bomber tried to shove him to walk down the stairs. They were in a dead lock.

Outside, he could hear the masked one. He was begging to be set free. It was almost pathetic to hear him gravel like that. Then, without warning, his pleading stopped and there was the sound of a large body falling to the ground.

The muscular one dragged the masked one into the cabin, passed Hiei and the bomber, and down the stairs. It made his stomach drop to watch him being dragged down there.

Hiei felt a tug on his shoulder after that. He turned around, seeing the dark crone standing underneath him. For how tiny she was, she sure was evil looking. "Now to knock you out, too," she said. She held up her hand. A few pinches of red powder rested in her hand. She blew them in his face. His face burned as he breathed it in.

When he came to after that, he was in the dark crone's cellar. She had him striped down and tied down to a cold metal table beneath him. He could see the masked one sitting in the corner, unconscious, but not dead. He could barely move anything beyond his head. He could see the dark crone humming to herself as she set down a rather large needle full of blood. His blood... or worse. His hips did ache tremendously.

"You should not be awake," the dark crone said. "I must need to give you more sleep powder to knock you out." She blew a larger handful of red powder in his face, rendering him unconscious once more.

When he came to the next time, he was on horse back, riding behind the bomber. The procurer rode next to him. Everything hurt, deep within him. He felt weak and drained in more ways than one. His hips ached the most with each step the horse beneath him took.

"What did she do to me...?" he mumbled out.

The procurer smiled. "Harvested from you without killing you. She only took things from you that you could survive losing. She was rather low on bone marrow."

That statement made his stomach drop. The dark crone had the masked one now, his whole self. He could not even begin to fathom what the dark crone was going to do to him before he died. A wave of pity for his poor, unfortunate soul rolled through him.

"Bui was worth the sacrifice," the procurer commented. "Trading him and part of you got me the cape of no return. I had been waiting so long to get my hands on it."

The small one, who had been riding ahead of them, turned his head back and said, "all the deaths you can issue without seeing the end of them. Sounds like a wet dream for you."

The procurer smiled slyly over at the small one. "If I saw them die after issuing the execution order, then how can I imagine and re-imagine it over and over again." He sounded too excited at the prospect.

The small one kept talking, "how do you imagine his whore died?"

The procurer sighed. "Sometimes choking on her on vomit. Sometimes a hole burning its way through her stomach. Always dying alone and laying on the floor." He seemed excited when he talked about it. "And now with the cape, I can kill others and send them to their death. So much mystery in how they might die. Once covered with the cape, they will be transported to the closest and most likely place in which they will die. The possibilities are endless..."

The procurer had kept smiling to himself on and off as they rode on the next few days. Hiei hated it. He wished he could destroy the cape just to spite the procurer and punish him for the nightmares he had had about the dark crone. He was a monster.

The riding seemed endless this day. When the procurer finally decided to stop and rest for the evening, Hiei was given another drink of water and nothing else. He felt so hot, so weak, and ill. They had continued to use to bind him with the ropes infused with the draining wards. They were worse after the dark crone had harvested from him. If they kept them on him much longer, they would have trouble getting him to the capital alive.

They left him against a tree to sleep outside while the rest of them slept in their own tents. They did not set up trip wires around their camp sense the small one had his fingers buried in the ground so he would be able to sense anyone coming on foot.

It was cold at night. Usually that did not affect him, being a fire demon, but the draining wards had been taking equal amounts of energy from him for days and days. It was twice as much energy was exerted than normal for one task. Breathing was twice as hard, riding was twice as hard, and recovering from the dark crone's harvesting was twice as hard. The cold seemed to be seeping into his bones this night. He was not sure how much more of it he could take.

He was torn between the desire to sleep and rest and the desire to stay awake and stave off his nightmares about the dark crone. He must have fallen asleep though because he saw in the sky some winged creature flying above him. It flew closer, which made him suddenly apprehensive. He blinked, watching it closely. It circled in the air above them before flying away. He felt like it was some kind of vulture, circling and waiting for his death.

His eyes closed unwilling, exhaustion forcing him into an uneasy sleep. He was shocked awake when something landed in front of him. He jumped awake, seeing, what looked like the girl but with whitish hair and wings crouching before him. He gasped, not expecting that.

"Saif- Hiei," she whispered, bending forward to kiss him in a bizarre turn of events.

She pulled away. "You were dead," he breathed.

"Long story," she said vaguely. She pulled him up from under his arms. She pushed her... wings... trying to... fly...

Only to be yanked down by the small one's fingers extending and wrapping around her ankle. Hiei could have kicked himself. He should have warned her that the small one had every night stuck his long fingers just under the surface of the ground surrounding their camp. She must have woken him up when she touched down on the ground. If she had not done that, they probably could have gotten away.

Yet they did not. The small one yanked her down to the ground. She dropped her hold on Hiei as she was dragged across the ground and over to the small one's tent. She cried out in fright as the small one sounded the alarm. The other three did not take long to wake up after that.

"Kurama! Yasha!" she screamed names she should not have known. The small one had her her legs bound, fingers curling and inching up farther along her body. She kicked and bucked her legs. "I don't care! Just get him off me!" Then a small, semi-white snake appeared on her neck and slithered its way down her neck. It hissed and sank its fangs into the small one's extended finger. This led to the small one screaming in loudly in pain.

"Get her off him and find the others!" the procurer ordered the two other bounty hunters.

The bomber ran off into the woods while the muscular one went over to the girl and yanked her away from the small one by the upper arm. This led to the snake dragging its fangs along the small one's fingers, bloodying them up. It took some agonizing seconds to get the two of them separated. The snake seemed to let go of the small one unwillingly. Once the small one was free, he clutched his injured hand and moved off to the edge of the clearing they were all crammed in. He rub the bloody bits that were his fingers. He watched the girl, eyes wide in fright.

"Bring her to me," the procurer seethed, heading towards the two of them.

The muscular one dragged her over towards the procurer, but dropped his hold on her abruptly when the snake tried to go after him. She stayed still on the ground where she lay, the snake moving around her neck and hissing menacingly at both the muscular one and the procurer.

"You're supposed to be dead!" the procurer hissed at her. "How did you survive the nightlock?! Where did you get wings?!"

She frowned up at him. "None of your business," she retorted weakly. The snake around her neck hissed viciously for her.

Before the procurer could say anything else, the sound of an explosion and a scream that sounded like the fox echo through the woods.

"Have them brought here before he gets carried away," the procurer told the muscular one. "Wait." He stopped him for a moment. "Break her wing first so she cannot escape."

The muscular one stepped over to her, watching her neck carefully. She turned onto her hands and knees, trying to scramble away and fly off. The muscular one gave her a quick karate chop against the top of her right wing, making her cry out and crumple to the ground. He then turned away, charging off into the woods after the bomber.

The procurer disappeared briefly into his tent, coming out with the cape. "How did you come back to life?" the procurer asked the girl, stepping as close to her as he dared. He looked furious with her for not being dead.

She had pushed herself up on her hands, her right wing hanging limping behind her at an odd angle. "I didn't," she whimpered.

"Then how did you get wings?" he demanded.

She merely shook her head up at him. "I'm not telling you," she replied weakly.

She crawled towards Hiei, wincing each time her broken wing was jarred. She stopped when the bomber and muscular demon came back into their clearing in the woods, both the fox and the stranger in hand. Both of them were bloodied, looking like they met the wrong end of the bomber's abilities.

"Just let us go," she mewed pathetically.

The procurer shook his head, stepping towards her. "Oh no, you're dead and their dead. I'll take them to the capital," he nodded over at the fox and the stranger. "My friend's widow wants Hiei killed in her presence, but I don't think she'll mind if I bring these two friends of his along as well." The procurer stood before her, wary of her mysterious snake. He shifted the cape in his arms. "But you, I meant for you to die back in the South. And you didn't." He shook out the cape between the two of them. "You will now!" he shouted, throwing the cape over her as she threw her arm up over her face to protect herself.

Hiei watched, unblinking as the cape engulfed her and then lay flat on the ground. He stared at it. The procurer bent down, picked it up, shook it out, and carefully folded it in his arms. "Well worth the cost," the procurer purred. He turned to face the fox and the stranger. "Do we have anymore ropes with draining wards?" he asked the muscular one.

"Two more," the muscular one answered.

"Perfect. Tie the two of the up. If the widow doesn't want them with Hiei, we can at least try ransoming the queen's half brother," he planned.

The whole situation made Hiei's stomach sink. The girl... the girl was here, alive, and gone in an instant. Somehow she had brought the fox and the stranger with her. Somehow she-

"What did she do to me!?" the small one shrilled, bringing everyone's attention to him. He was clutching his chest with his good hand. His face was pale, going blue around his lips. He was breathing haphazardly. "What did she do?!" He roar out in a high pitched scream, punching himself hard in the chest. He dropped to his knees, still punching his chest. "What-?" he choked out. "My heart- I can't move it away- from them all-" He wrapped his good arm around his middle and collapsed in a curled up position on the ground.

"Brother?" the muscular one said in shock. The muscular one ran over to the small one after that, pleading him to get up, growing more intense and more pathetic with each passing minute. No one else moved, no one else dared breathe loudly.

Hiei managed to make eye contact with the fox, who looked just as shocked as he felt. The fox shook his head, showing he had no clue what had happened or what was going to happen next.


	22. Chapter 22

Nanashi plummeted through the air, back and head first. It made her dizzy and disoriented. She could hear the wind spirit yelling at her to turn around and to try to fly. She twisted her body, turning to be falling head first now through the air. She could see a cliff side down below her. She beat her left wing hard, trying to slow her descent. She aimed to land below the cliff to give herself more time to slow her fall. She did not want to die this way, to not give Sakyo the satisfaction of it once more.

She was still falling too fast. Her right wing hurt nightmarishly, but she used it anyway to fight to slow her fall. Her fall slowed beyond lethal speed, but she landed harder than desired.

Not on the ground though, but rather on top of something large and furry. She heard an animalistic cry beneath her as she slumped and rolled off of whatever it was. She looked over at it, seeing it was a giant wolf that was wincing. She winced herself, realizing she had broken its back in her fall. Amazingly nothing else was broken, besides her already broken wing.

She stood up shakily, turning to face the opposite direction of the giant wolf dying next to her. Her eyes went wide and her face paled when she saw five more giant wolves standing before her, snarling. She trembled at the sight of them, not sure how she could possibly fight them off.

The largest one, all black and full of fury charged at her. She threw her hands up to protect herself. The black wolf slammed her back, not into the cliff face like she was expecting, but into... someone... behind her. She did not have time to even think on that now though with the black wolf snapping its jaw in her face while she barely held it back. She screamed in panic, not wanting to die.

'Why will you not use me?!' the wind serpent roared in her mind. 'I am a weapon. Tell who and how to attack!'

"Kill it!" she shouted out vaguely.

The wind serpent hissed at her in her mind, but came up along her shoulders and struck the black wolf in the neck. The black wolf roared at this, trying to back off of her. This lead to the wind serpent's fangs sliding along the black wolf's throat. The black wolf slumped down on ground before her.

'Don't take your eyes off the living wolves,' the wind serpent warned her.

Her eyes flicked up, watching the four other wolves carefully. They were eyeing her cautiously, but with a hungry look in their eyes. They were going to attack her soon or sooner. "Can you fight them off?" she asked the wind serpent aloud.

'Only if you use me as a true weapon,' it answered.

"A knife," she said, choosing her usual weapon. The knife Hiei had given her still hung on her hip.

'You insult me,' the wind serpent said discourteously.

She sighed. "What did Kaze have you do when you fought with him?"

'A long handled, battle ax,' the wind serpent answered with eager anticipation.

"Then do that," she said. One of the wolves took a step towards her, growling. "Now!"

The wind serpent transformed itself as she bid. It was so heavy, but felt natural in her hands. The wolf that had step towards her launched itself at her. She swung the ax, hacking the wolf at the slide of the head, taking it out. The remaining three wolves ran at her after that. She swung the ax, hitting one and then another. The third one, an all white wolf, got around her ax, sinking its fangs deep into her right fore arm. She cried out in pain, letting her hands go in a way where she would have dropped the ax if it was just an ax. The wind serpent transformed back into its serpent form and hung by its tail on her left wrist.

The white wolf yanked her by the forearm, turning its head to and fro. In all this jerking, she was thrown to the ground. The white wolf stood over her silently. When it went to strike her, an arrow whizzed past her, burying its way into the white wolf's eye.

Nanashi looked at it as it slumped to the ground before her. She stared at it disbelievingly. The wind serpent on her left wrist hissed protectively, drawing her attention to the others in the area with her. She pushed herself up to sit, left hand supporting her weight.

She looked up behind the dead white wolf. She saw a boy with cinnamon colored skin and long, honey blonde hair. His eyes with deep blue. "Angel! Angel!" he cried, running towards her. He threw himself down in front of her and wrapped his arms around her.

She heard the thundering of hooves behind her. She turned her head, seeing two men riding astride two hippogriffs. One of them held a bow in one hand.

The boy pulled away from her, sitting back on his knees. He looked at the ground forlorn. "Jiro. Jin," he mumbled the two names out. Nanashi took them for the names of the two men before them.

Nanashi looked around. She was surrounded by three strangers in an strange place she had never seen before. Nothing or no one looked familiar to her. She broke down at that realization, crying. Hiei was still in Sakyo's possession, and now so was Kurama and Yasha. Ruka would have been too, had she not ran off earlier without a real explanation given to Yasha. He just said she agreed to pay her debt and wanted to go home. Like last night did not matter to her. Sakyo had just tried to kill her again, and would have succeeded had the archer's shot not been true. She had no idea how to reach any of them to rescue them now. She brought her left hand up over her eyes wept. Her wind serpent chose that moment as well to disappear from plain sight.

"Angel, why are you weeping?" the boy asked her. She ignored him and everything else they all said next. She let herself half drown in her sorrow.

"My prince," keep your distance," the bowman said. Nanashi noticed the bowman had a head full of messy red hair.

"Jin, she saved me. She felt from the heavens and saved me," the boy insisted. "She will not harm me."

"You should not have run off during our hunt in the first place," the other man, Jiro said. "We need to get him and now her back to the hunting camp. His grace will know what to do." Both of the men slipped off their steads. "My prince, you'll ride with me," Jiro said, bringing himself down next to the boy. He pulled the boy out of sight and over to his own hippogriff.

Nanashi still sat on the ground weeping. She panicked when Jin knelt before her, nearly ordering the wind serpent to attack him. "It's alright," he soothed. Louder, over to Jiro, he said, "she's injured." He tore the sleeve off of her left arm, using it to wrap up and the bind the wolf bite on her right arm.

"We still need to get her back with us," Jiro answered. "Before she tries to fly back off to the sky."

"She wont' be doing that," Jin said knowingly. "Her right wing is broken. Her right arm has been savaged by the wolf as well."

"Get her up and on your hippogriff,"Jiro sighed, slipping back off of his own. "Stay up there, my prince. And follow directions this time."

Jiro came up behind her, while Jin knelt before her. Both of them picked her up to get her standing on her feet. She leaned against Jin, who was just taller than she was. She only stood because she leaned all her weight against him, burying her face into his shoulder.

"Great Mother, that's heart wretching," Jiro commented.

"Just help me get her on my hippogriff. She'll have to sit behind me. Her right wing is broken," Jin requested shortly.

Working slowly and carefully, the two of them got her onto Jin's hippogriff, which was kind enough to kneel down for her.

"Even the hippogriff knows what she is," Jiro said in awe. "I've never seen this stead so patient."

"The king will want to see her right away," Jin said as he climbed aboard the hippogriff, sitting just in front of her. He reached his hands around, pulling her arms around him tightly. "Hold tightly," he instructed.

The hippogriffs ran, staying on the ground back towards the hunting camp the two men had talked about. Nanashi did not care, wishing they were heading toward Sakyo. She leaned her head against Kahaku's back, crying to herself anew. Part was in her pity party, and part was because of the pain that jarred up and down her wing as the hippogriff ran.

When they stopped abruptly, Nanashi did not bother to look up. Where ever they were did not matter because Sakyo and the others were not there.

The hippogriff beneath her knelt down. Jin slipped off the stead first, and pulled her down to the ground with him. She could hear the sounds of people gasping and talking in hushed tones around her, but she did not care. Where ever they were, Hiei was not here.

Jiro stepped into her line of sight, holding his hand out to her. "I will take her," Jin insisted.

Jin began to lead her to walk, but her legs collapsed beneath her exhaustively. She heard him sigh impatiently above her. He knelt down next o her, picking her up under her leg wing. He put her over his left shoulder, standing up precariously. He walked forward with her, careful not to drop her. Jin carried her into a large tent. More sounds and murmurs echoed around them.

"What is that?" a deep voice cut through all the other voices.

"Your son says she's an angel that fell from the sky and saved him from the dire wolf pack that had set on him," Jin answered.

"Is he alright?" the deep voice asked, suddenly worried.

"Alive and well, thanks to her," Jin answered.

"Then why is she crying?" The deep voice asked.

Jin shook his head the best he could. "I don't know. She started crying once the prince was safe."

The deep voice sighed. "Set her down," it ordered.

"Yes, your grace," Jin said dryly.

Jin let her down slowly. He slipped her off of his left shoulder to stand on the ground on her own two feet. She could not stay standing, nor did she want to. When he stepped back from her, she sank down onto the ground before him.

She felt the vibrations of heavy footsteps come up behind her. She felt too tired to cry anymore. She hung her head low to the ground.

"Angel," the deep voice addressed her. She did not react, did not want to react. The voice's owner knelt down in front of her. The man before her had long hair, honey blonde hair pulled back into a thick braid. It was the same color as the boy's hair. His eyes were the same deep blue, too. The man's skin was slightly paler than the boy's as well. "Angel, why do you weep?"

Tears rolled down her face anew. Hiei, Kurama, and Yasha were in danger and all she could do was weep in front of strangers. This new stranger was different than the others. Maybe he could do something to help rescue them.

"Save them," she choked out. "Please."

"What did you say?" the stranger came down on his knees before her. He was still taller like that than she was half collapsed on the ground. "Who? Save who?" She could not answer. She had no idea how she could explain it to him. His hand came up under her chin, forcing her to raise her head up and look at him. "Save who?" he asked in a hushed voice. "Save who? I swear it, you save my son's life. I will save whoever it is you want."

The mere idea of trying to explain what happened and where they were had her head rolling in exhaustion. She whimpered. "I don't... know... where..."

The stranger brought both of his hands to cup her chin now. "Let me look into your mind," he requested.

"Your grace-" an unfamiliar voice cut through the silence.

"Silence," the stranger cut.

Nanashi looked around the room as much as she could. She could see at least a dozen other people in the tent with them.

"Let me look into your mind," the stranger requested. "I can do so by touching your temples. If it's too overwhelming for you, I can let go. You can show me who it is you want rescued and where they are."

She blinked up at him, staring him in the eyes in disbelief. If she let him, he would know about about the others. He would know where they were. He could send others to rescue them in her stead. She nodded groggily.

His hands came to either side of her head. She closed her eyes and panted at the sudden shock of seeing her own memories play out, but backwards. She saw herself fight off the wolves, then being covered by the cape of no return, then the failed rescue of Hiei and Sakyo capturing Kurama and Yasha, the news that Ruka left, last night with Ruka, finding Kaze and inheriting his wind serpent and growing wings, the travel through the woods and how her knees hurt so much, teaming up with Ruka to help with her debt, getting robbed, leaving Gandara, teaming up with Kurama and Yasha, searching for Hiei in Gandara by herself, robbing her uncle, Hiroto sending her out to rescue Hiei, being poisoned by Sakyo, being captured by Sakyo, Hiei's kiss, 'running away' from her uncle's house, Sakyo rolling into her town, training with Hiei, the mayor telling her she was going to help Hiei, Hiei's arrival in her town, her cousin running away when he came of age-

"Stop, your grace, stop!" she heard the voice of Jin. "She can't take much more!"

The stranger let her head go. She panted before him, feeling a cold sweat covering her. She shivered involuntarily. Her stomach felt queasy. She felt an overwhelming desire to sleep.

The stranger stood up before her. She was struck by how tall and stocky he was. He seemed half irritated, half in awe of her yet. He was quick to give orders. "Get me a map that included the Gandaran Forest. Her friends she wants rescued are there," he said through gritted teeth. "I need volunteers to head there immediately. Also, she needs a healer. Make sure they check her knees as well. Jin and Jiro, go find and take her to the most talented healer in the camp. Someone who can heal her broken wing."

"What about your son?" a new voice off to the side asked.

The stranger growled. "Tell him to stay awake and I will deal with him when I am done with her first. If he whines, tell him he wouldn't be here without her."

The stranger stepped away from her, moving so Jin could kneel down and put her over his left shoulder. As they left the tent, she felt like her head was swimming. She fell into a short, uneasy sleep.

She jumped back awake when she was laid on her stomach over a narrow bed. Her head felt fuzzy and was pounding.

Jin had laid her down and was talking to someone unknown to her. "Asa, this is the angel that fell from the sky and saved the prince. We were told to bring the angel to the best healer in the camp. The king said to heal her wing. It's broken. Also, her arm was bite by the dire wolves. He also said to check her knees, but I don't why."

Asa said, shocked, "I've never so much as healed a bird's wing. How am I expected to heal an angel's?"

Nanashi felt a sudden wave of realization. "Did you just say 'king'?" It felt overwhelming to her that she might have met the actually king.

The healer, this Asa stepped over to her, kneeling down by her head. "It was. You're here, now, in his hunting camp. Angel, what is your name?"

Nanashi blinked up at her, not quite contemplating what was happening. "Nanashi," she answered truthfully.

Asa took on soothing voice. "Nanashi, how did you break your wing? When you fell?"

"No, someone struck it," she croaked out. Her head ached as her voice echoed through it.

Asa looked at her thoughtfully. "We're going to stretch it out as much as possible to set it, like I would a broken arm. This will hurt, a lot, so I am going to give you medicine to make you unconscious. I will also heal your arm. But your knees? What happened with your knees?"

Nanashi felt too tired to explain properly in context. "Horseback riding."

Asa frowned at her, looking up at Jin. "Why would an angel go horseback riding?" she asked him.

"Why would an angel have such a human name?" he asked in turn. They were both so suspicious of her all of a sudden.

Asa stood up out of Nanashi's line of sight. "I will make her potion to put her under. I will need you both, Jin and Jiro, to help me set her wing properly."

Jiro spoke up, "I can't-"

"You have to," Asa said firmly off to the side. "You brought her here, you have to help me with her. You'll hold her other wing out straight so we can match the two correctly." Asa hummed under her breath.

Jin muttered under his breath, "surely you can at least handle that."

"The potion is ready. Jin, help her sit up," Asa instructed. Both Jiro and Jin moved towards her. "I said Jin. He may have to help her drink it."

Jin came over to her, helping her sit up on the bed, a slight smirk on his face. When Asa turned around, she had a small cup in her hand. She walked over to the bed. Nanashi felt a sudden surge of panic at the sight of the cup. The smell reminded her faintly of the nightlock poison Sakyo had had used on her. She tried to stand and run away, but Jin pushed her back down.

Asa stopped in her tracks. "Nanashi, what's wrong?" she asked in a gentle tone.

She opened her mouth to talk, trying to find the words. These three did not know the context of her life. They thought she was something other than what she really was. "I've been poisoned before," she said with a shudder. "Can't I just go to sleep naturally?"

Asa and Jin exchanged a look. Asa shook her head. "The pain of resetting your wing will wake you up. You're going to have to trust us." She held up the cup between them. She brought the cup took her mouth, taking the tiniest sip. She pulled it away from her mouth. Nanashi could see a small drop on her top lip. Asa licked it away. "I would drink more, but I need to remain conscious."

Nanashi closed her eyes, bringing her fist up to her mouth. She could remember the taste of the nightlock on her tongue, ready to burn down her throat. She took a steadying breath. She held out her left hand to accept the cup. Asa gave it to her, not quite letting it go herself. She watched Nanashi unblinking. Nanashi guided the cup to her lips, drinking it as quick as she could it. It tasted nothing like nightlock. It was floral flavored. She drank it down, trying not to choke on it.

Groggily, she asked, "how long... before... I...?" She leaned against Jin, slipping into the sweet release of black sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

Nanashi slept like the dead, absolutely exhausted. When she awoke, she was in an unfamiliar room on an unfamiliar bed. She lay flat on her stomach. She pushed herself up by her hands. She arched her upper back, hearing some of the bones creak. She stretched out her wings as far as they would go. She felt relieved that right one felt fine. That healer, Asa, had healed the bone properly. She was not sure what she would do if she lost her ability to fly.

She turned around in the bed, sitting up tall. She kicked the blanket covering her off. It was both soft and warm. She noticed her clothes were different. The shirt she wore left a hole in the back for her wings. The collar was connected at the back of her neck with hooks. The cloth felt like the nicest she ever felt. The pants she wore were just as nice. Her hair was loose behind her back. She pushed it over her shoulders to keep it out of her wings' way.

'Where are we?' she asked the wind serpent.

'Not sure, mistress,' it replied.

Gingerly she stood up, stretching her arms and legs when she stood up. She walked around the room she was in, impressed with how grand and large it looked. Two large windows loomed off to the right of the room. She stepped slowly over to the window, pushing the curtains awake to look outside. She was struck by how lush and green it was. The garden was expansive. She could see a training yard and the entrance to stables.

She heard a knock rap on the door. She froze, listening intently. The knocking happened one more time, then the door opened. The stranger who had read her mind came into the room. She instantly recalled this was the king.

'Kneel,' the wind serpent told her.

She bit her lip, bringing herself down on one knee before him. "Your grace," she mumbled out. She took a second to notice how well her knees felt. No pops or aches like they used to have.

The king came in, shutting the door behind him. "Rise," he instructed her. "Sit with me," he instructed, nodding his head over towards the couch, coffee table, and chair placed next to the unlit fire place. He went over there and sat himself down on the couch. He was so thick, in a barbarian sort of way, that he took up more than his fair share of the couch.

She rolled up onto her feet, walking over and sitting in the chair across from him. She felt uncomfortable with the chair sitting higher than the couch, but the king still was taller than her sitting down.

"Stunning," he said in awe. She looked down, too nervous to make eye contact. "You have nothing to be afraid of, you're safe here." She nodded, too intimidated to speak. "Once Asa healed you, we ended the hunt early and brought you back here to rest up. You seemed in need of rest and a proper meal. You still look like you need a proper meal." She was unsure if or how to respond. She merely nodded. "You're not what we expected at first glance. My son, Takashi, said you were an angel that fell from the sky. In reality, you are a half human, half angel, transported to the spot where my son should have died by the cape of no return. Unless your father was a fallen angel who chose to stay in our realm, your mother should not have been able to see your father, let alone have a child with him."

"I don't know," she answered.

He leaned forward towards her, elbows resting on his knees. "I know you don't. I saw enough of your memories to know that much. Being half angel, you have no idea how rare and precious you are. It doesn't matter in this case that you're a half breed." She frowned at him subconsciously, not like his words or tone at that. "My wife and I have talked long and hard about what to do with you. If you were younger, or my son were older, I would marry you to him. Alas, you as a part human will age faster and he slower, so a match between you two isn't fitting, being that elves age at one third the rate humans do." She gasped at that. He kept going. "So it was quite a surprise that you fell in with three former pit fighters, trained by one who was on the run and wanted for murder. The other two being my wife's bastard brother and his half breed lover." She frowned again at that word. "I sent a squad of men after the three of them anyway, to deliver them here to you because I promised to save them before I realized who they were you begged me to rescue. My men have also be ordered to retrieve and destroy the cape of no return you in your stead."

"Thank you," she replied. "Your grace," she added in.

"Yasha and Kurama have committed no crime, beyond their attempts to aid Hiei after he fled. I am willing to pardon them for that for their helping you in your journey. Hiei, however, will need to stand trial, being he is accused of murder and ran off," he explained. "In return for these favors on our part, you will stay with us on castle grounds for the time being. You will be trained to become a member of the royal family guard, with the goal that you will one possibly serve as my son's guard. Also, the crown will pay the debt you owe both Sakyo and Ruka. We will pay both of them off handsomely so neither one of them can come after you demanding their money from you. Do you agree to these terms?"

She swallowed thickly. "I don't think I could refuse," she thought aloud.

The king smirked up at her. "Woman of few words..." he mumbled. "For now, you have the run of the castle and the grounds. You will begin your training for the guard tomorrow. When you are not with the guard, someone trustworthy needs to know where you are. My son and Jiro saw you fight, so you can defend yourself if necessary, so I won't put a guard on you." He sighed, staring at her for a few moments of silence. "This room will be yours for now. Third finest in the castle, just behind my wife and mine and my son's. Jiro was a bit put out to give them up for you, so when you see him, try to act grateful about it. An angel, even a half bred one, needs to be treated and housed in high regard. You are the rarest person in the world. A child born on this world from one of the Great Hawk Spirit's servants."

"Yes, your grace. Thank you, your grace," she rushed, feeling flushed.

He bent farther forward, taking her hand in his. "Hayate, angel. My name is Hayate."

"Yes, King Hayate," she said formerly. The idea of just calling him by his first name felt off putting in her mind.

Hayate tightened his grip on her hand, pulling her to stand up and follow him. "Right now, you need to accompany me to dinner and let the others in the castle see you are real and are alright." He lead her towards the door, dropping his hold on her hand as he did so.

"Yes, your grace," she answered. He stopped dead in his tracks, looking back at her. "Yes, King Hayate," she added breathlessly. She brought a hand up to her face, hoping he would not push her farther to address him just by his name.

He gave her a longing look before opening the door and saying, "let's go, my angel."


	24. Chapter 24

The castle grounds were immensely large, but still felt like a prison when King Hayate limited Nanashi to just that. He said that his queen, Queen Minha, wanted to keep her close for the time being. Vague reasoning made her even more restless.

Days eked by, and still no sign that Hiei, Kurama, and Yasha had been rescued by the king's men. King Hayate had put Jiro, his first cousin in charge of the operation for her. She was to go to him for news. Not like he was hard to find anyway. He always seemed to be around her. He trained with her in the mornings, even though he was not part of the guard and could hardly fight himself. He found his chances to spend time with at meal times, afternoons, and evenings. He was sweet in his own way, but being around him so much was tiring. It was especially tiring when he would remind that Hiei would still have to stand trial by the king when he was brought back to the castle.

She did figure out a way to get around him and get some peace from him: the hippogriffs. She was drawn to them, being they could fly just as well as she. She was a little bit jealous of them that they could fly beyond the castle grounds, but she could not.

Jin was there. He was head of the stables. He had been with Jiro when they rescued her and the prince. She had thought at first they had been friends or something because they found her and the prince together. In reality, the two of them could hardly stand each other.

She had left Jiro after lunch one day, hoping she could just slip out to the stables unnoticed. The prince noticed though, running after her in his eternal youth. She still could hardly fathom how he was forty-three years old, but aged at a third of the rate of a human. All elves did. This short stack was older than her, which was hard to wrap her mind around sometimes.

"Angel, angel-" Prince Takashi said, dancing around her feet.

"My name is Nanashi," she told him, trying not to sound short. Everyone in the castle knew her name by now, but beyond Jin, they usually called her 'angel.'

"Angel Nanashi," Prince Takashi prattled on. "Do you want see some more of the books in the library about angel lore?"

She gave him a patient, but kept walking. "I already read them all with Jiro," she said calmly.

"But you haven't read them with me," he replied. "Maybe we could figure out more about your weapon?"

"There wasn't anything in the books I read about that, my prince," she replied gently.

'Besides,' the wind serpent echoed in her head. 'I can tell you all you need to know about me.'

She thought about rolling her eyes, but did not as that might insult Prince Takashi. 'The Great Hawk Spirit created you and your elemental brothers to assist her warrior angels in their defense of the mortal world.'

'And I am the last one left,' it purred. 'Never thought I'd live on the mortal world.'

"Ange- Nanashi," Prince Takashi was still talking in the midst of her private conversation. "Did you hear what I said?" She hummed under the breath. "I said, do you want to go walk the gardens with me?"

She had walked them a few times with Jiro already. "Perhaps another time. Jin could really use some help with the hippogriffs today. Especially since some of the mothers have recently had their foals. They need care, but are cautious of those whom they don't trust. You can help up if you want."

"Why do you always want to go to the stables?" he grumbled.

She bit back a frown at his tone. Jiro spoke the same way. "I really like the steads. They make me feel like I can do something, beyond just sit around and wait for my friends to be rescued."

"You could spend more time with me- I mean Jiro," he griped childishly.

She stopped dead in her tracks, turning to face him. "What do you mean?" she asked, letting her face betray her annoyance with him this time around.

"Father said-" he started, but halted.

"Your father said what?" she asked, facing the prince.

'Pull back,' the wind serpent cautioned. 'He'll tell you more if you are sweeter to him.'

She closed her eyes for a second and softened her face. She knelt down enough to be eye level with the prince. "Your father is wise and does what is best for his kingdom. For all three races; elves, humans, and even demons. Like a monarch should. What did he say? I hope that's in line with that."

Prince Takashi's head drooped low, eyes trailed to the ground. "He said Jiro really likes you... and..."

"And what?" she asked.

"And that Jiro doesn't like you spending so much time with someone who is... a half breed," he confessed.

"A what?" Nanashi said, taken aback by such a comment coming from a child.

He squirmed under her gaze, turned, and ran off abruptly.

She felt tempted to run after him, but the king and queen had told her she had the run of the castle and grounds only, so she could go to the royal stables anytime she wanted. So right now, she headed straight there.

Jin was there at the front of of the stables. Nanashi could hear a few other stable hands working in the back. Jin was walking a new born hippogriff on a lead slowly up and down the the hallway between the other stalls. He faced the foal, speaking soothing words towards it as followed him trustingly.

Nanashi smiled to herself. She stepped in line with Jin's walking path and stood there. When he ran into her, he jumped abruptly and turned around spooked. He went from looking annoyed to looking smile right down at her. He kept walking forward into her, making her walk back out of his way.

"Finally showed up, did you?" he teased. He turned his attention back to the foal, leading it as he walked backwards. "The foals need exercising. You up for that arduous task?"

She felt a spark of excitement surge through her. The newborn hippogriffs were so cute. The mothers were trusting with her and Jin, considering she was half angel and Jin was apparently a wind mage kind of elf. The other stable hands had to be more cautious with the mothers because they were seen as less trustworthy to them. Only Jin and Nanashi so far were allowed to take the foals out of their mothers' sights.

Jin reached the entrance of the stables, and turned around with his foal. Jin pulled her over in front of him, passing the lead to her. He lead her to lead the foal by walking backwards.

"Steady there," he whispered in her ear. "Easy does it. It needs to go slowly its first time." She felt herself flush at his words. "Walking can be awkward, almost painful for them in the beginning."

He led her to the back of the stables. Five other stable hands were around nearby, cleaning stables if the mothers did not trust them and tending to the foals if they did so out of sight. There were seven newborns in all.

"First time walking the little beasties, it is. The mothers will only let me walk them, but likely will let you walk one," Jin explained. He let the foal they had let go back to its mother and brought two more up to walk. He passed one lead to her and took the other in hand. "Watch its mother cautiously," he advised her. "If she seems bothered, bring the babe back."

She nodded, watching her new foal's mother carefully. The mother did look up at her, cocking her head slightly. When she dropped her back down care free, Nanashi breathed a sigh of relief.

As they walked, Nanashi asked, "why are the mothers so trusting with us?"

"Because they sense our own connection to the wind. They are wind creatures themselves. They are smarter than those horses humans love to ride," he explained. "But a lot harder to tame."

She hummed under her breath. "You're a wind elf. And the king is a mental elf. Do all elves have some sort elemental affinity?"

"Yeah, just like demons, but not humans," he answered.

She looked him over. He had the pointy ears of an elf, but not as sharp as the ears of the other elves she had seen. He also had a more muscular build than some of the elves she trained with. He had bulky muscles where the other elves had more lean muscles. The king was large and stocky, but did not have the same build as Jin.

"You're not a full elf, are you...?" she asked in a hushed voice.

His face went dark for a split second. It made her breath catch in her throat. "How'd you figure?"

She felt a strong desire to not answer. "You're built differently than the other elves, and..."

"And what?" he asked.

"The prince called you a half breed," she confessed.

"The prince? Not Jiro?" he asked. He was annoyed, but not at her. She shook her head. "I'm half demon, and not by mother's choice. Leave it at that. She was a wind mage herself, and the demon blood in me amplified my abilities compared to hers. I can fly at times as well, though not as gracefully as yourself," He fell silent next to her.

"I'm sorry," she said, breaking the silence.

"I hate the term half breed," he told her. "The elves and the king preach about unity between the three races, but mixing between them is looked down upon, especially if an elf has a child with a non-elf. The royal family steeps themselves in this ridiculous prejudice. You've dealt with that before, with being raised under the impression you were half demon. If I wasn't so good with the hippogriffs, I would not even be allowed in the line of sight of the royal family."

"Why is half angel seen as different, acceptable?" she asked.

"Because it's never been heard of before. Lore says the elves descend from fallen angels," he explained. "So them mixing with anyone less than that is shameful, willingly or unwillingly."

She hummed to herself. "So that's why Jiro likes me." She was not sure how she should feel about that. Jiro was sweet enough, but weak and dull when compared to Hiei and Jin. Better Jiro than Ruka though. Her leaving abruptly was disheartening. Nanashi missed her, but did not want to miss her.

"He does, does he?" Jin asked coyly. "He's not the only one," he hinted. "But might be the only one allowed to pursue you. The must eligible elvish bachelor in the kingdom. The second in line for the throne behind the prince himself. Too bad he's weak as water."

"He's sweet, in his own way. Kind. Just more bookish than most," she confessed. "some women like that."

"Boring. You can do better," he cautioned. They had reached the front of the stables.

They heard someone clear their throat behind them. The both of them turned around. They looked at the entrance, seeing Jiro standing before them.

Jin stiffened. "Keep your distance, the mothers wouldn't want your strange, bookish scent on the newborns."

Nanashi shifted uncomfortably at the sudden shift in tensions. Neither man really liked the other. She recalled Jin telling her once the only reason they were out searching for the prince together the night she fell from the sky was because they had drawn straws as partners; just like the other pairs who had also been sent out to find the prince.

"Jin," she said, bringing her hand up to gently rest on his upper arm. She passed the lead of her foal over to Jin. She stepped over to Jiro. "What is it, Jiro?" He stood just outside the stables in the sunlight.

"Angel, I have received word from the soldiers in the Gandaran Forest," Jiro informed her. She gasped, suddenly hopeful. "They've combed through the Eastern part of the forest, and came up empty handed."

"Oh," she said, downcast.

He cast a glance behind her. He took her hand in his hands. "I instructed them to continue searching the Western part of the forest and then head North towards the capital to find them."

"Oh," she repeated.

"Your friends will surely still be alive. You had said yourself that their capture, Sakyo, wanted to get them to the capital alive," he attempted to comfort her and failed.

"Thank you for the update," she said politely. To her, it was a useless update at best.

"I hope they are found soon. For I know it will bring you such joy, angel," he said desperately.

"Thank you," she said, moping.

"Would you like to see the letter I was sent by raven?" he asked, trying to pull her away from the stables.

She did not budge an inch. "Maybe later," she responded. Right now she felt the desire to be alone.

"Yes, my angel," he conceded. He looked behind her. "I'll look for you at dinner?" he asked hopefully. She nodded, not wanting to talk. "Very good," he said. "Right," he told himself softly. He raised himself up on the balls of his feet. He kissed her, but on the cheek innocently. "Farewell, my angel," he said before he walked off towards the main tower.

She watched him walk off, irritable that all the news he had for her after so many days of waiting and wondering was the kings men were looking in the wrong part of the forest. She turned back to the stables, taking her foal's lead from Jin, but then not wanting to move.

"Nanashi," Jin said her name softly. "They're still alive and they'll be found," he soothed. He stood close to her.

"When?" she choked out, not wanting to cry in front of him right now.

"Hey," he soothed, stepping close to her. He pulled her into his arms. He smelled strongly of hippogriff, but she did not mind it. It was comforting in its own way. She let herself sink against him, recalling how he comforted her last time when she fell from the sky and rescued the prince. His hand snaked its way to the back of her head, stroking the edge of one of her braids. She found it comforting.

She felt like she could have stood there with him forever with him, until she had opened her eyes and saw the two foals they had been leading making a clumsy run for it out of the stables and into the yard. Jin must have dropped their leads when he hugged her.

"Jin," she said calling his attention to the foals.

"Oh, fuck," he swore. "We need to catch them, now. If they come back smelling too foreign to their mothers, they'll reject them."

Nanashi forgotten, he ran off after the foals, shouting for no one to touch them. She laughed at the sight of it in spite of herself before she ran after him to help.


	25. Chapter 25

Nanashi kept close Jin the next few days, finding comfort in his presence. She picked up on the fact that he liked her, but she was unsure where to go with that. She more just wanted to her friends to found and figure out what to do after that. She did enjoy his company and working with him one on one with the foals. Two of the mothers would only let them care for their foals. The other stable hands were chased off.

This made it more difficult when one of the foals got ill and its mother would only let them treat her. Jin wanted it watched constantly, so she was willing to help. It gave her an excuse to avoid Jiro's hovering. After he told her about his update, he was hanging around her more while she felt like she needed a break from him.

While the others were away at dinner, her and Jin were trying to get the foal to take medicine. It kept baying while she tried to hold it still long enough for Jin to give it a shot to help it fight off its infection. Its mother was banging on the door to her own stable, trying to get to the foal. Jin stepped forward, kneeling down next to the foal as it squirmed. Jin watched it, unblinking. He plunged the shot into its neck, moving as quickly and carefully as possible. He pulled the needle out, setting out of reach.

"Keep hold of it," he instructed her. The foal kicked and bucked weakly in her arms, but she kept hold of it. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Didn't mess that up, I guess," he smirked.

She smirked back up at him shyly. "I guess that's true," she answered. She stayed in her seat in the empty stall.

He stepped over to her and the foal, putting a lead on the sick foal, bringing it back its mother. Nanashi heard the mother hiss and bay at him, rattling around her stall. He spoke soothingly to the creature as her slipped his way back out of the mother's stall.

Yet he did not simply return to her in her empty stall. Nanashi heard him rustling about. She rose up, leaving the stall to look for him. She did not see him anywhere on the ground level. She looked in on the sick foal and its mother. The mother cuddled her foal closely and protectively.

She felt dust and straw fall on her head. She huffed, shocked, and looking up to see where it came from. She brushed the debris out of her hair. She looked up and saw Jin up in the loft where straw, hay, and other things for the stable were stored. He cocked his head, nodding for her to come up and join her. She unfurled her wings, part jumping, part flying to the large loft.

"Could have taken the stairs, but no, an angel needs to jump," he teased.

She huffed a laugh. She noticed a blanket was slayed out on the ground behind Jin. A basket set next to the blanket. Lit candles sat on an overturned box nearby. "What's this?" she asked.

Jin stepped over to her, taking her hand, and leading her towards the blanket. "I figured since I made you miss dinner to help me with the ill foals, I would make it up to you with a picnic dinner I convinced off some of the kitchen workers."

She shook her head. "You didn't have to," she pointed out as she sat down on the blanket. "We could just go to dinner late with the others."

He gave her a playful look, "so? You can go on if you want. Sit at the royals' head table with your boyfriend, Jiro. Listen to him rattle on. Be the only half breed who gets that privilege. While I would be sitting in the back with the staff."

He sat down next to her, pulling the basket over to them. He pulled out plates, silverware and cups for the two of them. He pulled out containers of food and herbal tea, all still hot.

"No wine?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Not a big fan of the stuff," he answered. "Got a friend who likes it and drinks a good deal of it before a fight. I figured I shouldn't be serving wine to the angel though, it's improper."

"Don't call me that," she said tiredly. "I have a name." She was so tired of others calling her that rather than her name.

He served her food first and himself second. "Yes, my angel. If it please you, my angel. At once, my angel," he said imitating Jiro's voice.

She frowned over at him. "You should leave him be," she told him.

He began eating. Out of the corner of his mouth, he said, "he should leave you be. You don't like him very much."

She started to eat herself. "He's fine. He's not as bad as you make him out to be."

He gave her a studying look, but let the subject drop after that. He entertained her with questions about her own past growing up in the South. He was easy to talk to for her. Towards the end of the meal, he asked, "so before you ran off from your hometown, I bet the boys were at you like Jiro is now. Take a tumble with one or two of them?"

She helped him pack away their dirty dishes. She planned to take them herself back to the kitchens, since he was the one who fetched it. "No one likes a half demon that way," she joked. She reached passed him to grab the basket from him.

"I think you do," he commented.

He brought his head down to hers, kissing her. She hesitated, not sure if this was a good idea, in spite of how good it felt. She liked him, trusted him even. It might be okay...

His hand came up to her face. He pulled his mouth away, but only slightly. He met her eyes, studying her carefully. She nodded silently. He brought his mouth back to hers, moving his open mouth against hers. Cautiously, she opened her mouth to him, allowing him to slip his tongue inside of her mouth. She felt a thrill surge through her veins. He pushed her down on her back without breaking the kiss.

She gasped against him as his cupped her face, stroking it. She felt a burning rising up in her blood, desiring him and the distraction he had to offer her. She felt his hand and whole body tremble over her.

When he pulled away from her, she asked, "what's wrong?"

He gave her a flirtatious grin. "Still haven't figured that out, have you?" He sat up on his knees. He reached down to the base of his shirt, pulling it off and over his head. He tossed towards the side of the blanket with a care.

He looked like a demigod in his own right. So strong, muscles in plain sight in a way she doubted an elf would look shirtless. Hiei had looked that way when he trained her, but that was before she had looked at him in a romantic way she was looking at Jin right now. Never in her wildest daydreams did she imagine sitting before someone like that and him wanting her. Looking at her the way Ruka had...

She sat up before him, nervously wanting to reach over and touch him. He moved forward towards her, reaching his hands around her neck, unhooking the collar of her shirt. She trembled herself when he pulled the collar and the sleeves of her shirt off of her. He also unhook her bra from around her neck and back. The bottom half of her shirt stayed on, but he tossed the bra over to his abandoned shirt. She covered her chest up shyly with one hand.

"Do you want to stop?" he asked her, lustful eyes trained on her chest.

She bit her lip, hesitating. She shook her head, dropping her arm down to her side nervously. She closed her eyes, hearing him gasp. He kissed her anew, pushing her down on her back. One hand came up to her right breast, stroking it roughly. His breathing deepened and quickened in time with her own. He pulled away from her lips and brought his legs around her middle. His hands came to her breasts, kneading them with unexpected force. She winced to herself.

"You like that?" he asked her in a husky voice. "A demon is rough lover by nature." His hands changed up, pinching her hard. She cried out, trying to hold her voice back. "You should know that in case you change your mind." His hands were relentless, making her feel hot and flushed all over. He practically dug his nails into her soft flesh. "So you've been with someone, right?" he asked her. She thought of Ruka, nodding. "Good. That way we can't get caught. If you want me, that is."

He let her breasts go, moving off of her to pull the rest of her shirt down off of her by her legs. He sat himself down on the blanket next to her, pulling her over and onto his lap. Her legs spread out around his torso. His hands came to her lower back, pressing her against him. She felt something hard press against her inner leg. She was caught between wanting to squirm away and wanting to press on. She thought back to what Ruka had done to her. She kissed at his neck, nuzzling softly. He hummed in her ear. His hands slipped down to her backside, gripping her hard. She pushed against his shoulders, getting him to lay down on his back before her.

"Getting rough with me now, are you?" He slapped her hard, making her jump.

She put her hands on his shoulders, trying to remember what Ruka had done to her. She ran her hands up and down his front and sides, dancing her fingers along him in a barely there touch. He closed his eyes, smiling to himself as she touched him softly.

"Gentle meets rough, eh?" he whispered up at her. His hands ran up and down her thighs firmly. He grabbed her hips and forced them to press down on his, making her wince aloud. She figured out what that was and noticed he was harder for her.

He rolled her unexpectedly onto her back, pinning her down by the shoulders. "You want it?" he growled down at her. His hands came down to her hips, holding them with a bruising force. He ground his hips against hers almost painfully. He bucked his hips back and forth against her, making her feel aflame.

She panted beneath him, unable to squirm away. He kept moving. She needed to find her voice again, somewhere, someway. She wanted him, beyond her own understanding now. Worse than the way she had wanted Ruka. She grabbed his wrists, trying to pull his hands off of her.

"Please," she panted out, wanting to get him off of her at the same time wanting him to keep going.

He stopped moving his hips, smiling down at her victoriously. He sat up, bringing himself up on his knees. His hands shook her hands off. He reached his hands down to the hem of his own pants, undoing the front of them. He pulled his cock out, holding it in his hands proudly.

"Sit up," he told her. She did as was bid, sitting before him. This was different from Ruka now. She was unsure what she should do next, even though she wanted to. "You can touch it," he permitted. "Hand or mouth, do as you please."

She brought her hands up to her mouth nervously. She took a steeling breath and then reached her right hand out tentatively. She did not look at... it... while she ran her hand gently up and down the length of... it.

Jin's hand covered hers. "If you're too gentle, it won't be hard enough for you later," he whispered in her ear.

He pressed her hand down around his cock, making her rub it harder and faster. He let her hand go as she moved her hand the way he showed her. His hands came around her jaw line, tilting her head up to his. He kissed her roughly.

"I want your mouth next time," he informed her. She bit her lip, unable to look away from him. She nodded, thinking that was what he wanted her to do. He gave her a lusty smile. "Keep your hand moving," he told her.

She nodded again, following his instructions. His hands let her head go. Her hand started to feel tired, but she kept it up, thinking he wanted that. When she felt like her hand could hardly keep up the pace he wanted, he took her hand off of him. He shoved her to her back, catching her by surprise.

"So how do you prefer it?" he asked her, hands come to the hem of her pants. He brought his hand down to her center, digging his palm into her as he rubbed it up and down. She brought a fist to her mouth, biting her knuckle to help mute the moan that escaped her lips. "Hand for hand?" he suggested. He did not do anything. She felt herself begin to shake from all his teasing. "At least nod or something," he implored her.

"I... I.. I," she stuttered. Unable to speak, she managed to nod. He hand shifted smoothly from being over top of her pant to being under them. He repeated the action to get himself under her panties. "Ah... ha," she panted in shock and desire as she felt two of his thick fingers enter her. she recalled Ruka telling her the first time someone did this, they had better have earned it. She closed her eyes, telling herself he did.

"You like that?" he asked her. She nodded, knowing he would want some semblance of an answer. He laughed down at her. "Do you like this as well?" he preempted before he came down and bit her breast.

She cried out in surprise and the feelings overwhelming her. He bit her. It hurt, but made her tighten against his fingers, which felt amazing. He kept biting and sucking on her in turn with his fingers moving relentlessly inside of her. She moaned again and again. His free hand came up and clamped down on her mouth. She screamed into it as she felt pleasure rip through her.

He pulled away from her, grinning down at her more like a predator than a lover. "We doing this?" he asked down at her, hand around his cock.

'The first has to earn it, the first has to earn it,' she told herself. He wanted her and she wanted him. He did tell her no one would know. He was desirable to her. He did understand better than the others in the castle. He did want her. "Yes," she exhaled.

He was on his own back in an instant, stripping himself down. He was on her in the next instant, making her as bare as himself. He straddled her, bringing her legs up over his hips. She panicked at this for a moment, almost thinking to change her mind. He shoved his way inside of her, making her scream. His mouth claimed hers, deafening the rest of her screams as he took her hard and fast.

It hurt, like she was being stretched and forced beyond capacity. She griped his upper arms, nails digging into his flesh. Still, he kept going hard against her, stretching her out relentlessly. Her screams petered out into whimpers as heat started to overtake the pain. She blinked away at the tear pricking the corners of her eyes. She wanted him, so she had to handle it. He took his mouth off of her, bringing it down to rest against her neck as he surged on.

"You're so fucking tight," he panted against her neck. He pulled one of her legs over his shoulder, pounding down on her over and over again. "I'll pull out," he promised her. "We won't be caught, we won't be caught." He sounded almost nervous.

She shook beneath him, internal heat threatened to overtake her once more. She moaned loudly against it, not sure how much more she could handle anymore.

"You can't scream," he told her, hand coming back over her mouth. "I love the sound of it, but we can't be overheard."

She squirmed against his hand, not liking it on her. He slid her leg off his shoulder. He brought his mouth down over hers, holding it there as he focused on his own mounting pleasure. Her hips ached and everything felt on fire. She trembled against him, resisting the urge to pull her mouth away from his. Her hands scrambled against his back for purchase. Her legs tightened around his torso involuntarily. She wanted to scream out, unable to take much more of him. She wretched her mouth away, throwing her head back. He swore at her. Her lower back arched beneath him. His mouth covered hers. She screamed against it desperately. The heat she had felt building released inside in painful, blissful ecstasy.

He moaned against her mouth in turn. She could feel him start to tremble as her body relaxed against his. He kept going against her, driving inside of her to the point where it started to hurt her again. She whimpered against him, starting to want him to stop.

"Almost there," he whispered against her mouth. He brought his mouth back down to the crook of her neck. "I was nearly there when you tried to scream," he panted out. "Almost, almost there," he kept repeating. She started to tremble, exhaustion creeping over her. "Almost there, oh please, don't try to scream," he begged her. His hand raised up, shoving at her legs locked around his torso. "Let go," he rushed. She loosened her legs best she could, feeling him shift his whole body weight forward. He pinned her down, pressing himself against her. She jumped as she felt a rush of something warm, wet, and sticky between the two of them.

She laid still, feeling raw and sore beneath him. He kissed in a series of quick pecks. "Don't tell anyone," he told her. "Not a soul." He was smiling down at her, but at the same time seemed to be a bundle of nerves.

"I won't," she whispered up to him.

"Let's get cleaned up," he smiled down at her. He rolled himself off of her and reached over to the basket for a hand cloth. He rolled back over to her, stopping and staring down at her torso abruptly. "You weren't bleeding earlier," he observed.

She looked, noticing blood both on her and him. "What happened?" she whimpered. He cleaned her stomach off before wiping himself down first. He seemed almost angry with her. He was not looking at her, which made her feel suddenly exposed. He flared his nostrils, throwing her her clothes and not making eye contact. "What's wrong?" she asked apprehensively. She started to get dressed herself, wincing as her center ached.

He was standing up, busily putting on his own pants. "What's wrong?" he asked. "What's wrong is that you lied to me," he answered quietly. He was busy putting his shirt back on. "You told me you had been with someone else."

"I have been," she said, putting her shirt on.

"Who? What was his name?" he demanded. He held the ruined cloth in his hand, not sure what to do with it. He shoved it in the pocket of his pants.

She felt herself shrink. She had started putting her pants back on. "Ruka," she confessed.

"A woman?" he said, eyes going wide. He shook his head, unsure how to respond to her. "That doesn't count in this context," he growled. "The way I took you, no one should ever take a virgin. I wouldn't have even touched you had I known."

She finished putting her pants. She reached over to grabbed her socks and shoes, but could not bring herself to put them on. She brought her knees up and rested her forearms and head on them. She shrank into herself, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

He knelt down before her, but she stayed stock still. She felt him grab the end of one of her braids and swear. "Your hair... and wings have gotten darker."

She groaned, raising her head up without looking at him. She looked at her hair and brought a wing up into her peripheral vision. They were a dull, light silver color. She brought her head back down over her arms.

He pulled her over to him limply, bringing his arms around her. She hated how she had hurt him unintentionally. "Do not tell anyone, please," he insisted. "I thought you were experienced, otherwise I would never have touched you. Gossip from the kitchens says you're to be betrothed to Jiro after your friends are rescued. I just wanted you a few times before that," he confessed.

She leaned her weight against him, feeling numb over all that he had just done and told her. "I won't," she promised. "We still can," she answered hopefully.

His hand snaked up to her hair, stroking the disheveled braid. "You need to explain the new color," he said, sitting her up. His hands unraveled the braid and began twisting it back up anew unevenly. "If anyone asks, tell people we had an awful fight and you said and did some things you regret. Keep it vague and keep it veiled. Act ashamed." His hands move to her other braid as he redid it.


	26. Chapter 26

Nanashi slept fitfully that night after she snuck back into her rooms. She kept dreaming about Jin, and Hiei, and King Hayate, and Sakyo. All of them were mixed up in her mind in a tangled mess of dreams. She rolled out of bed the next morning, getting ready quietly to herself before the two maids Queen Minha had given her could assist her. She found it unnecessary for them to dress her and do her hair when she could do that by herself. She usually only let them do a little bit so they would not feel like she was wasting their time.

They had shown up though as she was busy brushing her hair. She conceded to letting them finish her hair, braiding it tightly in two braids that started at the top of her head. They worked in silence, having been told they were not allowed to talk to her if she did not speak to them first. Usually she talked with them, asking them questions and getting to know them. She knew their names, Midori and Sayuri. Today, she did not feel like speaking. If either of them noticed her hair was silver now, they did not say anything.

"Thank you," she said softly, not wanting to admire their handiwork in the mirror this time around. She was tempted to cover her hair today, but her wings were too large or noticeable to be covered. She would have to let her hair show.

"You're welcome, angel," Midori said to her. Sayuri studied her hair and nodded.

"You're dismissed," Nanashi told them, sitting herself down on her couch by the unlit fire place. It was too warm outside to imagine lighting it yet.

She sat there, unsure what to do with herself. She did not want to go down to breakfast. The king would see her, and would demand to know what happened. Her stomach grumbled, but she ignored it. She wished she had asked one of her maids to bring her food before dismissing them.

She sat by herself, waiting for the minutes to tick by until she could acceptably go down to the stables and see Jin. She felt safe with him, wanted to be near him. She slipped out of her rooms, getting herself down to the stables with the fewest people seeing her as possible.

She nearly got there, just in sight of it when she heard someone come running up behind her and calling after her. "Angel, wait," Jiro panted, coming to a stop behind her. He stared up at her hair a little too long for her comfort. "His grace wants to see you, immediately."

"I..." she started, not sure how she could deny him or the king. "Yes," she conceded, following after Jiro when she would rather turn around and go to Jin.

Jiro lead her at a fast pace through the castle. She grew more and more nervous as he lead her towards the king's throne room. He let her into the vast room, but it just held the king and two of his guards. Nanashi recognized them as Kouhaku, who was friends with Jin, and Ayane, a fierce sound demon. The king was pacing in front of his and his queen's throne, looking like an impatient lion. The guard stood still at their post. Jiro kept walking towards the king, but she slowed down in her steps. When the king stopped his pacing and stared over at her, she stopped walking.

Jiro stopped, too. He looked between the two of them. "Leave, Jiro," the king ordered him. It sounded vaguely like a growl. "Ayane, Kouhaku, do what I've asked of you, please," he dismissed them as well.

Jiro looked between the two of them. She nearly asked him to stay, but knew he would not, even if she begged him. He left the room with the two guards. The door shut behind them, echoing across the room. She closed her eyes, wincing at the sound.

King Hayate moved forward towards her. She wanted to back away, but froze in panic. He took one of her braids in his hand none too gently. His lip curled in a snarl. He let her hair go. "Where were you last night?" he demanded. She felt herself begin to tremble, not wanting to betray Jin at all. "Answer me."

"I... I... I was..." she did not want to answer, but was too intimidated and terrified to lie. "Stables." Her hand covered her mouth. She could not look up at him.

"All throughout dinner?" he asked. She nodded. "Why?"

She closed her eyes. "One... one of- of the-"

"Speak clearly," he insisted. She could hardly catch her breath, let alone speak at this point. "If you won't answer," he preempted. He stepped closer to her, hands reaching for her head. She stepped away from him involuntarily. "Speak or I will look," he warned her.

She got her breathing under control. "One of the foals is sick. We cared for her."

"Whose 'we,'" he asked her, voice going slightly softer.

"Jin and I," she answered honestly.

"Alone?" His eyes narrowed. She nodded. "Speak."

"Alone," she felt her breathing shake.

"Then what happened?" he asked her.

She felt her stomach drop. He knew. He knew something, knew enough. Jin had told her to lie and be vague about it. "We... fought," she lied.

"About what?" he pressed.

Vague, she had to come up with something vague. Something vague that would explain her new hair and wing color. "The.. foals..."

The king sighed down at her, trying to catch her eye. She tried to keep her breathing steady and was failing. "You're a terrible liar," he accused.

"Please," she pleaded, almost feeling the temptation to use her wind serpent to stop him from questioning her. Her stomach flipped, making her want to be sick.

"You were heard screaming. Tell me what happened," he raised his voice. She shook her head, stepping back from him. He grabbed her forearm, stopping her from going any farther. "Or else, show me."

"Please," she whimpered, wanting to flee.

He held tight to her arm, pulling her closer. "Were you forced?"

"No," she answered, hating she was being forced to betray Jin like this. "Please, I I... I told him not to say anything. It was all my idea. I convinced him to-"

"You're a worse liar than my son," he interrupted. "You might not have been forced, but I highly doubt you initiated any of it." He let her arm go with a shake. "According to legends, do you know what happens to an angel when they sin so much their hair and wings turn black?" she shook her head. "They turn evil. Wreak havoc and destruction. The only way to stop them is to kill them. You've set yourself on that path, an impossible child born from an impossible union. I will not let you lead yourself to your own demise."

"I wasn't..." she began.

"Thinking," he finished for her. "A half angel that fell from the sky. You had so much potential. And then you revealed who you really are. I meant for you to be wed to Jiro once your friends were rescued, but likely you've ruined that chance for yourself. He had to be convinced to take you as a half breed because half of what you are is angelic. He hates half breeds. Now I'm going to have to convince him to take you on after you've slept with one."

She felt her temper stir. "There's nothing wrong with being a mix of the three- four races," she grumbled.

"Not if one is angelic, no," the king spoke. "Anything less than that brings out the negative, more evil aspect of a person."

"That's not true," she insisted, thinking back to how she had been treated in her hometown because people thought she was half demon. "Even if that was true, a person is not just what their parents were. Nature aside, a person still has a say in the choices they make."

"Your half human side is showing," he insulted. "Humans age so fast, mature so fast, that it's no wonder you gave into Jin."

She stared up at ruefully, temper keeping her brave. "I chose him," she said.

"Here I thought you would be hung up on Hiei, or even Ruka," he informed her. "That's part of why we delayed wedding Jiro to you right away. That delay was a regret." He stood up taller, staring her down. she blinked first. "You're dismissed. You will remain in your rooms for the rest of the day and night. You are not allowed out until breakfast tomorrow morning." He walked towards her, pushing her towards the door with him. He opened the door. She saw the guard Ayane standing in front of them. "Ayane, escort the angel back to her rooms. She is not to speak with anyone or to leave there until tomorrow morning. See that her windows are locked so she cannot escape out of them." Nanashi frowned at his last sentence. He had cut off her escape, even before she could come up with the idea on her own.

"Yes, your grace," Ayane said with a flourish of a bow. Nanashi recalled she had forgotten to do that herself when she saw the king. She gave her head the slightest nod to him before she let Ayane lead her off.

Ayane was moving swiftly and silently in the direction of Nanashi's rooms. Nanashi had to half run to keep up with the shorter woman. When they hit a T intersection, Ayane lead her right. Nanashi followed her.

She heard a familiar echo off the walls of the passage behind her. She could not quite make out the words, but she knew who it was. "Jin?" she whispered, turning around.

She looked back, standing stock still. She watched him walking behind Kouhaku. He met her eyes, but kept following behind Kouhaku. He shook his head at her. They turned the corner, walking towards the king. Nanashi began to follow after them, wanting to warn him.

"Angel," Ayane called after her in warning.

Nanashi moved faster, the urge to warn him outweighing her fear of the sound demoness. "Jin," she called out to him. His shoulders twitched, showing he had heard her. He went through the door by himself. Kouhaku stood guard in front of it. Ayane had caught up to her, yanking her by the hand to resume walking with her. "Jin," she called out his name louder. Ayane pulled her back, making her follow. She slipped out of her grip, moving in a rush to reach him. Kouhaku was on her faster than anticipated. He shoved her back down the hallway towards Ayane. "Please," she pleaded with him. She tried to get around him, but could not. "Just let me talk to him, please," she begged.

"Angel, you were ordered by the king to return to your rooms," Ayane's voice rang clearly through the hallway.

She looked between the two guards, tempted to attack them and to get to Jin. It would be a fruitless endeavor. She had been trained by both of them. She would not be able to get around them both. Even if she did, it would only make matters worse for her and Jin. She turned away from the guards, and walked away in silence towards her rooms. She heard Ayane run up behind and walk in step with her.

Once they were at her rooms, Ayane saw to binding her windows shut so she could escape out of them. Nanashi slumped on her bed, half laying on it listlessly. She bemoaned being caught by the king, kicking herself for it. Jin had told her not to scream, yet she had anyway. She had not been able to help herself.

Sun beams streamed through the closed windows, showing her the passage of time as she dozed off where she lay. Moping to herself. She heard a knock on her door, but she did not respond to it. She hoped if she ignored it, whoever it was would go away.

They did not. Asa opened the door, coming through it. She had a tray of food and a steaming mug. "Dear Angel," she said softly. Nanashi watched her, but did not sit up. "Skipping meals in light of other things will not help you get stronger," she scolded. She sat the tray down on Nanashi's nightstand. "Sit up, sweetness," she suggested comfortingly She sat down next to Nanashi on the bed. Nanashi sat up ruefully, not making eye contact with her. Asa took the steaming mug in her hand, holding it over to her. "You don't have to explain to me why, but you should drink this moon tea. The king insisted upon it."

Nanashi took the cup from her, tempted to drop it on the floor in rebellion against the king. For how powerful he was, he sure was pompous. He tried her patience. She sipped from it without tasting it.

Asa took her hand, holding it tenderly. "Last night, were you hurt?"

Nanashi took a sip from her mug. "Last night, no," she answered truthfully. She drank again. "Now, yes," she choked out.

"Sh, sweetness," Asa soothed her. "The king will make the best choice for the realm."

"Not for the realm," she corrected. "For himself and his family." She drank more, hardly wanting to.

Asa took a steeling breath next to her. "Adding angel blood into the royal family is his goal, yes. But protecting you, and your virtue are just as important to any of us, for any woman."

"Then marry me to Jin," she said forlornly. "Honor saved," she spat. She finished the tea, handing the mug back to Asa.

"He's a bastard and not a full elf. That doesn't fit his or his queen's goal," she explained gently. She set the mug down on the tray.

"I should have a say in who I am wed to," she responded. "My uncle at least had enough sense for that. He refused Sakyo, but also refused two others." She leaned her head down upon Asa's shoulder.

"Jin is to be sent away for now," Asa informed her. Nanashi whined under her breath. "Sent to the stables stationed at the summer castle in the West with the newborn hippogriffs and their mothers, seeing as how he knows how best to handle them. The king is saying publicly its for the health of them."

"He's only here because his talents outweigh everything else. Otherwise he would not be sight of the precious royal family," she griped.

"What happened should be kept secret," Asa informed her. "You'll be thankful for it in the long run. Also, your uncle had been sent for by the way. Soon after the king's men were sent out to find your friends. He is to be brought here so Jiro can ask for your hand." Asa tore a chunk of bread from the tray of food. "You need to eat a little bit of something," she advised. "The tea may upset your stomach."

Dispute the fact that she was not hungry, she ate that, trusting in Asa's advice. "What happens now?" she asked, enjoying Asa's company and comfort.

"Lay low for a while," Asa advised. "Try not to draw attention to yourself." Nanashi nodded, feeling groggy herself. She sunk her head down into Asa's lap. Asa brought a gentle hand up to her hair, stroking one of her braids. "Rest now, sweetness."

"Will you stay with me?" she pleaded meekly.

"Of course," she promised. "Rest now."

Nanashi laid beside her, dozing off a little. Another annoying knock rapped on the door, making her cranky at just the sound of it. Nanashi sat up, head rushing, giving her a minor headache.

"Shall I answer it?" Asa asked her. Nanashi grumbled under her breathe, but nodded.

Asa went up to the door, answering it. In rushed Jiro of all people, all excited. "My angel, my angel," he exclaimed. He was speaking to Asa at first, but halted. He turned to the bed, seeing Nanashi sitting there. He rushed over to her, but stopped short. "My angel, are you ill?"

Asa answered for her, saying, "she is, but only mildly and it's not contagious."

Jiro looked between the two of them before he addressed Nanashi. "I'm sorry to bother you when you are unwell, but your friends have arrived at the castle."

"What?" she rushed out, feeling suddenly alert. "When?"

"A few minutes ago. The troops who found them had sent a raven to warn us, but it must have strayed," Jiro explained. "One of them, your friend Hiei, is quite unwell. He will need a healer to look after him."

"Asa," Nanashi turned to her, giving her a pleading look.

"I will be his healer," she agreed.

Nanashi turned back to Jiro. "He's to be brought here, to be cared for in my rooms." She lost Jin, but she was not about to let the king take Hiei away, too.

"My angel, that's not-" Jiro started.

She cut him off firmly, "that's what I command." Jiro seemed to weaken beneath her, giving evidence that he was not strong enough for her. "I'm only here because of him, and I will look help look after him."

"Yes, my angel," Jiro conceded, wanting to please her.

"Show me to them," she said.

"This way, my angel," Jiro told her, leading her out the door.

Only she did not make it much farther than the doorway. Ayane stopped her. "Angel, you have been ordered to stay in your rooms by the king. You may not leave."

She opened her mouth to contest, but closed it. It was a fight not worth having, and impossible to win. "Jiro, please, have Hiei brought to me, please," she begged.

Jiro gave her a conflicted look. Asa came up behind her. "These rooms would be best for me to care for him, as we have agreed," she reminded Jiro.

"Yes, my angel," Jiro promised. He stepped over to her, standing too close to her. He kissed her soft lips unexpectedly. When he pulled away from her, she tried not to look like she was cringing.

Jiro turned from the three of them then, running down the hallway. She turned back to her rooms, feeling like her energy was renewed. She pretended she did not notice the brooding scowl etched on Ayane's face. Hiei was here, Hiei was back. She was going to help him. She was not going to lose him again.


	27. Chapter 27

Getting tied up like this for so long was not what Yasha had in mind. Younger Toguro was still livid over Nanashi killing his older brother right before Sakyo had thrown the cape of no return over her and sent her to her death somewhere in the world.

After Elder Toguro died suddenly, Younger Toguro had demanded Sakyo bring Nanashi back so he could kill her himself. Sakyo tried to calm him down, but he was in a cold rage. He had then asked which hostage was least valuable. When Sakyo looked the three of them over, he answered Kurama was. It took a few minutes to stop him from treating Kurama like a punching bag. He was kept alive at least.

They kept traveling after that, going slower than they used to, based on grumblings from the weakened Hiei. Sakyo was worried about him dying on the road, so he willingly started feeding him again and took off the draining wards during the day. He was the one who had to live. Kurama and Yasha himself were less valuable, so they went without and had the draining wards kept on them for the whole time.

At night the three of them were tied up together outside to shiver and freeze while their three captures slept warm enough in their tents. Hiei was ill and weak from his captivity, but could tell them enough about what happened since he fled the capital.

He fled South via ship, ending up in Sarayashiki and meeting up with and ended up training Nanashi to fight. How Sakyo tried to poison her after he gave himself up to save her. He was chilled when he mentioned being harvested by the dark crone friend of Sakyo's. He also mentioned that on of their three captures, Karasu, seemed like the weakest link between the three of them as he was forced to work for Sakyo to pay off a debt.

Yasha formed his own plan, keeping it to himself. Karasu. He was clearly the one of the three kidnappers on the bottom of the totem pole now. Made to hoist the prisoners on their horses daily. Made to place them on the ground at night. Made to feed Hiei once daily to keep him at least alive by the time the they all reached the capital. Made to do whatever was necessary in caring for the prisoners. Yasha could tell he was loathing it. All Yasha had to do was get his hands on him.

Hiei, in spite of the ease of treatment by Sakyo, was still weakening each day, as Yasha noticed. He would hardly talk, saying his legs and lower body hurt all over. When one morning Karasu informed Sakyo that Hiei was still weakening, Sakyo told him calmly and coldly that if Hiei died before they got to the 'widow,' then Karasu would die in front of the widow in his place.

Yasha had been picking at his gloves through his binds, sorting out how he could remove them both without loosing one of both of them completely. He just had to wait and watch for his opportunity. It came sooner than he expected.

Karasu had been ordered to take the three prisoners separately out to the woods away from the camp to take a bathroom break. It was the one time when their bindings were untied, but Karasu had his little bombs out and floating around them in case they tried to make a run for it.

Yasha had already had his gloves off and was finished. Karasu came back up behind him, redoing his binds. Yasha put his bare hands on Karasu's hands, rushing out to say quietly, "next time you are angry at Sakyo or Younger Toguro, try to kill them."

The intense pull on his energy from giving this order made him weaken. The draining wards in the ropes doubled the energy it took to make the order. Any order given that was stronger than that would have probably killed him. It was sealed though, Yasha could feel it.

Karasu growled under his breath, tightening the ropes around his wrists. "No talking," he said.

He loosed a small bomb against the skin of Yasha's right forearm. He bit back a scream, not wanting Kurama to hear it. He could feel the wetness of his own blood drip down his arm. It was worth it.

The next day, Yasha watched Karasu carefully, waiting to feel a pull on his energy that would indicate Karasu would follow his order. Kurama noticed him watching Karasu, and gave him a questioning look. Yasha smirked at him and just shrugged.

It took two and a half days for Karasu to get angry with either Younger Toguro or Sakyo. Karasu had already bound Kurama and Yasha to their own trees for the night. Hiei had gotten worse, falling from his horse in the evening when Karasu went to take him off of it.

Sakyo had jumped off his own horse, coming over to the two of them. "What happened to him?" he asked Sakyo.

Karasu hauled Hiei up by his new bonds around his wrists. "He fell. He's still alive." Karasu shoved Hiei forward, but his legs buckled beneath him. "Get up," he said to Hiei. Hiei struggled, but did not get up.

Yasha felt a pull on his energy, worried that he might try to attack Hiei in his anger rather than Sakyo or Younger Toguro. Yasha panted at the double pull at his energy. Kurama looked over at him, wide eyed. He still carried a few yellow bruises from when Younger Toguro had turned on him.

'You didn't,' Kurama mouthed.

Yasha felt a blinding headache come over him all of a sudden. It was the order, the strained doubled by the draining wards. He felt like he was going to retch. The order was too strong. Karasu was trying to resist it. It would kill him if it took much longer.

Yasha blinked over where Hiei lay on the ground with Karasu and Sakyo standing over him. Karasu picked Hiei up and carried him to the tree next to the one Yasha was bound. He tossed him down to the ground.

"Be careful with him," Sakyo called over to them. "He dies, you take his place."

Yasha felt another pull on his energy. Karasu silently bound the sweaty and pale Hiei to the tree. 'Attack him,' Yasha wanted to shout at him.

Karasu rose up, turning back to face Sakyo. "Get him fed and get them each to the woods. You know the drill." Karasu drew his feet wider apart. Yasha felt worse than Hiei looked now. "Get that insolent look off your face," Sakyo ordered.

Yasha saw black stars dancing in his vision. He fought to stay conscience. He saw Karasu stepped towards Sakyo, bomb in hand. He threw it at him the remaining distance. Sakyo threw his hands up to protect his face, which made the bomb catch him in the arms. Sakyo shouted out in a mix of rage and pain. Karasu charged him.

Only to be stopped by the Younger Toguro. Younger Toguro caught Karasu before he reached Sakyo. The two of the them began fighting, with Sakyo ordering Younger Toguro to kill Karasu.

Karasu and Younger Toguro began to fight. The order dropped its strain on Yasha now that Karasu began to act on his own free will again. Karasu continued to dance around, trying to keep out of reach of Younger Toguro's fists. Yasha felt himself bite back panic as he watched and felt Younger Toguro grow bigger and stronger. He got faster, too. Various bombs thrown at him by Karasu half hit their mark, but he seemed unfazed by it. At one point, Younger Toguro hit Karasu in the jaw, forcing him to turn his head and knocking his mask off of his face.

When that happened, Karasu took a few steps back, hair having turned blonde and wilder. He took on a vicious look. "I've day dreamed about killing you," he half sung out over towards Younger Toguro. "You, too," he said and looked over at Sakyo.

"Tired of being in debt and enslaved?" Sakyo asked, keeping his distance. "Better that than dead."

"You fear death, the sight of it," Karasu accused. "There's nothing more intimate than the relationship between a killer and their victim. Yet you refuse to watch those you sentence to death die."

Sakyo smirked at him. "Imagining my victim's death is better. Can change again and again, rather than being one concrete moment where the details can get hazy."

Karasu looked past Younger Toguro and Sakyo. He looked over at Hiei. Yasha felt his stomach drop at that. Karasu sucked in the air around him, creating a hair ruffling breeze. He charged over to where Hiei set, listless and feverish. He stood over Hiei, two hands resting firmly on either side of his head.

"This death would be so easy," Karasu spoke. "The one death you don't want to happen yet. He's dying anyway from your neglect. Starved and dealing with an internal infection. What a strange feeling it would be to kill someone I was trying so hard to keep alive." He gave Sakyo a bitter smile.

Sakyo's face took on the same scowl he had when he saw Nanashi was still alive. "Let him go and get out of here. Do that and your debt is repaid. No need to explode or bomb anyone here."

Karasu stood upright, staring down Sakyo. Yasha held his breath. "Deal," he agreed, eyeing Sakyo carefully. No one moved as Karasu got his bag, took his horse, and mounted it. "A parting gift," he said, before throwing a series of bombs in the area.

There were no chances to dodge or duck or even think as the explosion ripped through the area around their camp. Yasha lucked out, mainly just getting hit by bit of flying dirt and debry. So did Kurama. Younger Toguro took the brunt of the attack, shielding Sakyo from it in the last second. Hiei ended up hit, too. Yasha heard him cry out. When the smoke and dust finally settled, Yasha saw he was bleeding on his left side in a few places. He was still alive, but Yasha somehow sensed it was by accident.

Sakyo spoke first, temper flaring. "Find him and kill him!" he ordered Younger Toguro. "I want him dead. Do it however you wish, but don't tell me how you do it."

Younger Toguro was on his horse and in hot pursuit. Yasha watched him go, pulling at the bounds. If they ever had a chance to escape, now was the best chance.

Sakyo grumbled under his breath, moving towards Hiei and checking him over. He swore. "Damn it. You are not allowed to die," Sakyo raged at him. "Not yet." He ripped of part of his own sleeve and began binding Hiei's more serious bleeding wounds.

Then something unexpected happened. A child's toy, a wooden yo-yo came flying out of the woods at Sakyo, hitting him with a thunk in the side of the neck. He crumbled unconscious to the ground in front of Hiei.

"Extraction team, move!" a male voice called out from the same direction as the yo-yo.

Yasha watched in disbelief as, of all people, king's men, elvish warriors really, came running out of the woods from behind him. He saw Chu and Rinku come barreling out of the woods. Rinku, the tiny elf that some thought was a child made straight for Sakyo's tent. Chu meanwhile was busily untying Hiei and then Yasha. Yasha shoved him off, going over to untie Kurama himself. Chu did not stand around though. He hoisted Hiei over his shoulder and went staggering back the way he came from. Rinku ran out of Sakyo's tent, holding the cape of no return at a distance from himself. Kurama and Yasha exchanged a confounded look before stealing Karasu and Sakyo's horses and trailing after them.

They did not go very far before they came upon Rinku, Chu, and Hiei; along with Shishiwakamaru and Suzuki. Suzuki was getting Hiei on a strange horse while Shishiwakamaru took the cape of no return and shoved it into a bag of his own.

"Let's go, come on. Before the big one gets back," Suzuki ordered.

Chu, Rinku, and then Shishiwakamaru were on their own horses and the lot of them charged off into the woods before anymore could be exchanged.

When it seemed like they were well enough away from Sakyo and Younger Toguro, Yasha brought his horse alongside Suzuki's horse. Tiredly, he asked, "what the actual fuck?"

Suzuki burst out laughing at him. "You haven't changed a bit. Just like old times. Training when we were younger. Before you went off and joined the fighting pit freaks."

"How did you find us?" Yasha panted out.

"Well, that's a funny story," Chu butted in. His voice slurred. Drunk, as per his fighting style. "Of all the things, an angel fell from the heavens and saved the prince from an angry pack of dire wolves. The dumb ass prince decided to wander off when out on an hunt. The beasts would have killed the little bugger had it not been for the Angel Nanashi."

"You're kidding me," Yasha exclaimed disbelievingly.

"It's true," Rinku joined in the conversation. "Your angel friend fell from the sky, slayed the dire wolves, and then begged the king to rescue the three of you."

Yasha thought about his brother in law, looking back over at Kurama riding steely behind him. He could not comprehend how Nanashi could have gotten Hayate to agree to save a group of people that included Kurama. "How the hell did she manage that?"

Shishiwakamaru explained next, "she wept before him, hardly able to talk. She begged him to save her friends, and he agreed, not knowing who she was talking about. He swore on the prince's life, grateful to her for saving him. Then he read her mind, finding out it was the bunch of you freaks she wanted rescued was you three. He was pissed, but still sent us out to save you."

"I think I speak for the lot of us when I say we're grateful," Yasha answered breathlessly. "For now."


	28. Chapter 28

Shishiwakamaru and Kurama both had given him medicine they had gleaned from plants in the forest on the way to the capital and the king's castle, but he was still weak and sick. His best, maybe only hope was for them to get him to the healers in the king's castle and let them care for him.

Kurama also detested the idea of going to the king's castle, even though it would be the best chance for saving Hiei's life. The king distrusted and disliked anyone who was demon or part demon. He assumed just because a few demons were evil, all of them were. He made that clear back in the day when Yasha and Kurama became a couple after Yasha bought him out of his debt and out of the fighting pits. Yasha was to keep his distance from the castle, the prince, and the royals as long as he was with Kurama. Yasha always played it off like it did not phase him, but Kurama could tell he missed his home and his family.

Yet now Nanashi of all people was bringing them back together. The kings men had orders from Jiro to save the three of them and bring them to her in the castle. They also had orders to bring the cape of no return to her to destroy it. Kurama was itching for the chance to see the castle's library. So many books, so much lore... He wanted to go through it and see what he could find out about angels, part angels, and how to destroy the cape of no return. Nanashi needed to be prudent before she tried to destroy it in case it tried to destroy her as well.

They reached the king's castle swiftly, pushing their horses and hippogriffs to the limit to reach it. They got there midday in a rush. Jiro, taller and older now, Kurama noticed, was rushing outside to see them.

He stopped in front of them, panting out, "the angel sent me here... she commands.. she commands Hiei be brought... to her right away..."

"Did she really use the word 'command?'" Yasha laughed.

Suzuki shook his head. "He needs a healer, my lord."

"Asa... the wolf healer... she's with the angel," Jiro explained. "They're in my old rooms."

Suzuki looked over at Chu. "Take him," he ordered. Chu picked up Hiei, running as he carried him. Suzuki shifted his feet uncomfortably. "You two should probably going with them, too," he said to Kurama and Yasha prudently. "We'll have food sent up for you as well."

"Thank you," Kurama said to the lot of them.

"What he said," Yasha said with a jovial smirk. He gave each one of his old friends a playful punch before he and Kurama headed in the same direction as Chu and Hiei.

They walked quickly through the halls, Kurama keeping his head low. Yasha meanwhile was looking about at everything with a bittersweet smirk in his eye. He missed this. He missed this place. He missed his home.

"Yasha?" a firm, high voice echoed in the hallway behind them. Both Kurama and Yasha turned around, seeing none other than the queen and Yasha's sister, Minha standing there. She marched up to them with purpose. Yasha smiled down at her, noticeably glad to see her among the circumstances. She reached the two of them, but only noticing Yasha. She smacked him feebly on the side of his arm. "What took you so long?" she asked freely. She stepped close to him, hugging his taller self unabashedly.

He smiled down at her, arms coming around her as well. "Well, first I needed to find an angel to befriend," he joked jovially.

It seemed as if Hiei, Nanashi, and even Kurama had been forgotten by Yasha in this moment.


	29. Chapter 29

Nanashi paced in her room, up and down the front of the bed. Asa had left to her rooms to get medicine she figured she would need for Hiei. Jiro had left to get Hiei and bring her to him. She felt so alone, full of mixed up emotions. The two strongest were worry and anger. Worry about Hiei and Jin. Anger at the king and Sakyo. She started when Asa came back into the room first with a bag in tow. She sat the bag down on the nightstand and then stepped over to Nanashi.

"Sweetness," she said, taking Nanashi's hands in hers. "You need to promise me something." Nanashi met Asa's eyes, nodding. "No matter what state your friend is in, you will not seek revenge on the person or people who did this to him."

"What?" Nanashi breathed out, unsure.

"Promise me," Asa implored, hands gripping Nanashi's tighter. "You have to remember, being angelic makes you more vulnerable to evil. If you allow that darkness to set into you, you'll become a monster that will have to be killed."

Nanashi squirmed under Asa's gaze and the weight of her words. "I promise," she said with all the honesty she could muster.

Asa pulled her in for a tight hug. "You're still so young," she breathed over her. "Half a wolf cub still in your own right." She kissed the top of her head affectionately.

Asa pulled from her just as the door to the room opened. In walked a tall man with odd mo-hawk. Nanashi hardly noticed him though because all she could see over his shoulder was Hiei.

"Put him on the bed, please Chu," Asa instructed, stepping over to the bed and throwing the sheets to the side.

Chu carried Hiei over and plopped Hiei down on his back on Nanashi's bed. Nanashi gasped at the sight of him, so thin and so weak looking. Even Asa was frowning down at him.

Chu commented, "doesn't look like the same guy who was undefeated in the fighting pit."

Nanashi felt a mix of both hate and revulsion burning through her. Asa turned to her. "Remember your promise to me," she instructed. Nanashi nodded. "Can you be here? Can you handle this?" Nanashi nodded, refusing to separate herself from him that easily. "Chu?" she said, turning around to the man behind them. "You're dismissed. I think we'll have plenty of people in this room right now."

"No problem," Chu slurred, leaving the room. He looked rather exhausted himself.

Asa turned herself back towards Hiei. "I'm going to need to strip him down and examine him. You can look away if you are uncomfortable." Asa settled herself down next one side of the bed, and Nanashi on the other.

Nanashi shook her head, helping Asa undress him. She let Asa take off his pants and boxers though, with her feeling uncomfortable at the idea. Asa frowned at that, face looking annoyed and concerned. She went over his body, healing any injuries she could see. She then looked over his torso, frown at the sight of his hips. They looked swollen and red. So did the front of one of his thighs.

Asa seethed, stepping away from Hiei and the bed. "Dark crone," she spat the words out like a curse. "He was given to a dark crone." She paced away from the bed and then back over again. She rummaged in her bag, thinking aloud, "forget that promise, I want to kill that Sakyo myself." She busied herself making her own healing draft. "Bone infection in his hips and upper leg. Of course she wasn't careful."

"What's a dark crone?" Nanashi asked nervously.

Asa turned to face her, her face was cross, but Nanashi knew it was not at her. "A demonic type of witch that harvests living creatures and uses what she takes to perform her magic and craft her potions."

The idea of it made her stomach clench in cold terror. "What did she take from him?"

Asa looked up at her. "From what I can tell, she took a lot of bone marrow, blood, fat, fluids, gall bladder, part of his liver, and appendix. He can live without those things, but it doesn't look like his body was given the time to recover, hence the bone infection."

"Will he be okay?" Nanashi asked hopefully.

Asa gave her a patient look. "I'll give him medicine that should kill the infection, but it seems like he has been battling with it for a while." Asa had a draft brewed up. "Help me sit him up." Nanashi looked over at her and did as she bid. Asa held her hand over Hiei's infected thigh, tapping it. Above his leg came a zoomed in hologram of his femur bone. Bit of gross looking greenish-blackness were in and around the white bits. "Ugh, disgusting," Asa swore at the sight of the infection there.

Nanashi felt herself panicking internally. 'Is there anything you can do?' she thought to the wind serpent.

'There is something I have done before,' the wind serpent purred in her mind. She got a flash image of Kaze sitting next to another angel, wind serpent no where in sight. 'I have been used before to help kill off an infection in a friend of my former master's. I can do that again in you like.'

"Yes, please," she said out loud in a rush. Asa looked at her confused. She gave Hiei the medicine she concocted.

"We'll start off giving him this mix of antibiotics once every four hours and see where he goes from there," Asa said, resigned.

'I can kill it, you just have to stay awake and give me your energy while I work,' the wind serpent explained. 'I do need to enter through an open wound or something.'

'His Jagan eye?' she suggested, recalling Hiei once briefly explained to her what it was and how he got it after they fought off those doxies. That felt like such a long time ago...

Nanashi reached over to Hiei, pushing up his headband. "Do it," she said.

Asa still looked over at her in curiosity. "Who are you talking to?"

"My wind serpent," she answered.

"Oh, that's right," Asa mused. "The angelic weapon you inherited from that dying angel..."

Nanashi hummed, "um, he it says it can help," she started slowly. Asa was watching her carefully. "It can enter his blood stream and help fight off the infection. But only through an open wound or something like that. Through his Jagan Eye is possible. I just have to stay awake though is all while it works." She closed her lips, feeling a bit embarrassed by how she explained it.

"It couldn't hurt," Asa responded. "It's your choice, but it could be the thing that saves his life."

Nonverbally answering, Nanashi sat down next to Hiei's head, tugging off his head band. While his two normal eyes were closed, his Jagan eye was open. She vaguely recalled asking him once about it. He had told her he got it from a demon surgeon in return for a sworn secret he had not revealed. Gingerly, she placed her right hand down over his forehead, watching her wind serpent slither down her arm and into his Jagan Eye and body. She gasped in the sudden shock and intimacy of it.

"Are you alright, sweetness?" Asa asked her with concern.

Nanashi nodded in answer. "Yes."

Asa stepped over to the other side of his head. She touched the outer edge of his ear. Quietly she asked, "have you looked at his ears before? Really looked at them?"

Nanashi looked down at his ear closer to her. She studied it, not really knowing what she was getting at. "No."

Asa whispered, almost nervously, "they're docked at the top tip and the lobe. He's demon, right?" Nanashi nodded mutely. "Demons, like humans, have rounded ears, but elves have pointed one. Half elves has a mix of the two." Nanashi nodded, recalling what Jin's ears had looked like. "Only a half elf trying to hide his half-ness would have his ears docked like that."

Nanashi looked down at his ear one more time. Gingerly, she ran her finger across the out edge of his ear, feeling the slight raise of scarring beneath her fingers.

A knock came on the door, much to Nanashi's annoyance after that. She just wanted to be left alone with Asa and Hiei and her own thoughts for now. Yet Asa rose up and answered the door anyway.

"It's Jiro," Asa informed him.

Nanashi groaned under her breath. She did not feel like dealing Jiro of all people at the moment. Yet she felt like she owed him for getting Hiei to her. "Let him in," she begrudgingly consented.

Asa gave her a concerned look, gesturing to Nanashi with her hand.

'Cover him up,' the wind serpent told her. 'Over his chest.'

She did as she was bid clumsily, covering Hiei up to his chest with her blanket. Asa nodded over to her and then beckoned Jiro into the room.

"Angel, my angel, how is your friend?" he rushed out a bit too loud for her comfort. He stood next to her, swallowing thickly and looking down at Hiei in distasteful curiosity.

Nanashi hummed, her head feeling too fuzzy to find the proper words. Asa thankfully answered for her, explaining the bone infection and how Nanashi's wind serpent was helping him fight it off.

"Oh my angel," he said half boldly. He sat down next to her and took her hand. Holding hands with him felt so strange, wrong almost. "How can I help you?"

He a pleading, almost pathetic look in his eyes. She looked down at her lap. He was so eager to please her, so eager to be with her, albeit in a forced way. He only wanted her because she was half angel. He only wanted her because the king told him and him alone to pursue her. Jin might have been thinking like that, too, for what it was worth. Ruka had been, surely. She cast a slide long glance at Hiei. He had not been. He had kissed her before she ever knew she was angelic.

Asa spoke up for her. "Perhaps you could get her something to eat or drink? Something gentle on her stomach. She was not feeling well earlier."

"What would you like, my angel?" he asked her eagerly. His hand tightened around hers.

"Something gentle," Nanashi answered wearily.

"Yes, my angel. At once, my angel," he responded, rising up to his feet. His hand stayed rested in hers though. He bent down, trying to kiss her. She gasped, pulling her away without really thinking about it. "What's wrong, my angel?" he asked her, voice dripping with rejection. "Is it because you're unwell?"

His hand still held onto hers. "I thought you didn't like those who were 'half breeds?'" she blurted out. She pulled her hand away from his, meeting with some resistance on his part.

"Nanashi," Asa hissed over to her in warning.

Jiro stood over her, drawing himself up as high as he could manage. "You're impossible," he said. "The union of an angel and a human. That might as well make you an elf. You're different. You're better than any half breed ever could be."

She gaped at him in surprise. She thought about how she was treated growing up under the belief that she was half demon, half human and so treated inferior for it. Then of what Jin had told him about being a half demon, half elf and the only way he got to work in the royal stables was being the best by far at working with hippogriffs; so good that his breeding could not get in the way. How Kurama had mentioned being seen as lesser for having a human body, but a demon soul. She then thought about Hiei laying unconscious, having his ears docked so to hid his own breeding as a half demon, half elf from the world.

"No one's better than anyone else. Not in the way you're talking about anyway," she challenged quietly.

He looked down at her disbelievingly. "I surmise that's just your illness talking. Otherwise..." his voices trailed off, shaking his head haughtily.

"Get out," she answered, frowning up at him. She pulled the bite back from her tone. "Please leave my rooms. I am tired."

Jiro looked both angry and wounded at her. "You are sicker than you realize. No wonder the king has ordered you stay in your rooms for a day." He left in a huff of insolence. She was glad to see him go.

"Why did you do that?" Asa hissed over at her. "At the very least he is your ally her at court. Discounting his opinions so rudely in his face will not help you any."

"His opinion is stupid," she muttered. She felt the sudden urge to cry all over again. She closed her eyes, taking a deep, calming breath.

'You should have slapped him,' the wind serpent commented coyly.

She held back the smile threatening to cross her lips.


	30. Chapter 30

Hiei felt a surge of alertness in the midst of sleeping. He felt the sudden and unexpected connection to the girl's and her mind. He looked into it, seeing she was sitting above him, seeing her... wind serpent... had been sent into himself to help fight off the... bone infection... deep within his hips and leg. It was all so surreal. He flipped his way through her mind, seeing what there was to see. He started with her miraculous survival of the nightlock poison and ended with watching her in time tell Jiro off for his view on those who were mixed race.

He took his time looking and reexamining different aspects of what had happened to her since the first time the procurer tried to kill her. She was half angelic, that was how she survived both the doxy venom and nightlock. It also meant something expected; the keeper was a fallen angel, living in and among those humans down south. He wondered now at how that could have happened, who could have placed the curse on him so he could never reveal it, and what that all meant now for them.

He almost felt his own discomfort at the surprise the elvish wolf healer had discovered about him. His ears had been docked, hiding his own elvish origin. He had never known that before, so finding it here was unsettling. Whoever had done that had done it without him realizing it.

He tried to reach into her own mind to speak with her that way, but found he could not, what with being unconscious and all. He had to sleep by and watch as she forced herself to stay awake by his side so her wind serpent could help the antibiotics the wolf healer had given him fought off the infection within him. He saw through her eyes the wolf healer given him simple drinks of both medicine and broth, getting him to drink them carefully while unconscious. He saw the wolf healer doting over her, ordering servants to fetch her strong coffee and something to eat, coaxing her to consume what was served her, keeping visitors away from her she did not wish to see, including the king. The wolf healer did let the fox and the stranger into her rooms though.

The girl gasped, smiling at the sight of the two of them strolling in. "Kurama. Yasha," she breathed. The stranger had an excited air, but the fox had a downtrodden one. She saw the fox had an armful of books in his hands while the stranger had a bag with the top tied securely in tow.

"Well, hello again to you, too," the stranger told her flirtatiously. "And to you, Asa. It's been far too long. Seems like he's in good hands of a capable healer," he added to her. "Sorry we arrived so late, I ran into my sister and then someone," he nodded over to the fox, "let mention to her he wanted to see the library, so she took us there insistently and got us the stack of books he has over there about anything that could help with destroying the cape of no return. And then of course we accidentally left the cape with the king's guard. Thankfully Rinku came running to us to give it here." He held up the bag that he had, which must have held the cape. The very thought of that cape sent frightened shivers down the girl's spine.

The fox simply nodded over to her. He set the books he was holding down on her short table near the fire place. He stepped over to them, studying Hiei solemnly. "He looks better," he commented.

The wolf healer spoke up, "bar the bone infection he's got, I was able to heal up the injuries he suffered from his travels and the dark crone." She shuddered at the mention of the dark crone.

"I do believe the dark crone that he was given to was the same dark crone that harvested the fallen angel that Nanashi found," the fox explained. "The angel had been sent after her to destroy the cape of no return and she used it against him. Then in turn, Sakyo bought it off of her in return for getting to take from Hiei and one of his men."

The girl blinked tired at all of this, remembering, "I still have to destroy that cape. I promised the wind serpent I would in its former master's place."

The wolf healer told her calmly, "you don't have to worry about that right now. Take care of your friend first."

Hiei saw in the girl's mind that she had more than just friendship on her mind. Even though it was muddled up in her mind with the wind mage she had been with as well. She hummed tiredly under her breath.

"That's why I have the books," the fox said. "In one of them, or more perhaps, there has to be some mention of the cape of no return and how to destroy it." To the wolf healer, he asked, "is there anything more we can do to help you with Hiei?"

The wolf healer merely shook her head. "I've got medicine to give him every four hours and she's got her wind serpent working on him. I've been giving him broth as well along with the medicine. Something easy and gentle on his stomach so he can digest it all."

The fox turned his gaze back over to the stranger then. He smirked knowingly. The stranger sighed, looking disgruntled. "Fine, pass me a book then, will you." The fox handed him one and he plopped down on the girl's couch by the fire place. He began flipping the pages at the front of the book with loud flicks of the paper.

"What is it?" the girl asked, curious why the fox seemed almost pleased and the stranger almost annoyed.

The fox smiled over to her. "I told him if we can't find a way to help with Hiei, then he'd have to help me read up about the the cape of no return and how to destroy it."

If Hiei had been conscious, he would have laughed aloud at that. The stranger detested reading for long stretches of time. He would rather be out fighting, exploring, and what ever else he rather do than sit and read.

"I can help," the girl volunteered. "Just pass me a book."

The stranger handed her one from the stack. The wolf healer protested, "my dear, you need to concentrate on helping him more than you need to be reading."

The girl pursed her lips, holding the book closely in her lap with her left hand. "I can do both," she answered. "Besides, I was the one tasked with destroying it." She looked over at the bag the stranger had brought in. The very sight of it scared her.

The wolf healer sighed over her. "Indeed," she breathed out. "So long as you don't tax yourself too much, sweetness."

She leafed through the book, more pretending to read then anything else. Hiei read through her eyes, understanding her desire to help.


	31. Chapter 31

Nanashi felt exhausted over the course of the next few days. She, her wind serpent, and Asa had gotten rid of the bone infection in Hiei, but he still slept on, resting and recovering for his whole ordeal. Asa kept giving him broth to drink to help build up his strength. She had even bathed his unconscious form in Nanashi's bathtub with Nanashi's help.

Kurama and Yasha meanwhile kept combing through book upon book about the cape of no return. Kurama took detailed notes, while Yasha merely scribbled down short sentences and page numbers, much to Kurama's annoyance. Nanashi did make an effort to write down notes she thought might be helpful for Kurama.

Kurama and Yasha had been given the rooms next to Nanashi's by the queen, but they hardly spent anytime there. They spent every waking moment in her rooms with her and Asa. The king and queen had been in to visit them. The queen seemed keen to spend time with her half brother, but the king seemed more interested on checking up on her spending so much time with three men in her rooms. It was not like she would be doing anything inappropriate with either of them, especially with Asa right there. Besides, Hiei was no condition to wake up, let alone anything else. She even slept on her couch instead of in the bed with Hiei.

When he finally did wake up after three days, Nanashi was glad for it. Had they not been around the others, she could have kissed him. She threw her arms around him in relief. The others rose to stand up, all speaking at once to address him in their relief.

"Shut up," was all he told them in response.

Yasha laughed at him jovially. "Oh yeah, he's feeling better."

Hiei pushed himself up to a sitting position on her bed. She sidled away from him so he would have more room. He turned and looked at her with a studying eye. She could tell he was trying to catch a glimpse at her wings. She shifted so he could see his back. She felt a quick shiver go down her spine when she felt him stroke the top of one.

She turned back to face him, feeling slightly flushed. "It's a long story," she preambled, not sure quite where to start. "I'm not sure where to start..."

"I've been filled in," he said cryptically.

She looked up at his head band, which now still covered his Jagan Eye. She blushed crimson. "Multitasking in your sleep?" All the things she had been through since she had last seen him, he now knew. He had to know about Jin as well...

"You two would make a good picture," Yasha teased. Kurama shushed him.

"Hard not to when you've got the wind serpent of yours in my bones," he admitted. She felt the uncomfortableness of the idea of him knowing everything slide. She felt glad he knew.

Kurama spoke up next. "You both do realize now that Hiei is awake and recovering, the king will want to question him."

Nanashi felt her grow somber at the thought. Nanashi remembered now. Hiei had killed the man who bought him out of his debt and out of the fighting pits. Rumor had it Hiei had made a pass at him and killed him when he was rejected. Then fled south. Which was why Sakyo had come after him. How she had gotten King Hayate to agree to rescue him, but only if she let him question Hiei first about his crime.

"You didn't really kill that man, did you?" she asked, afraid almost at what the answer might be.

"I didn't intend to," he confessed to her soberly.

She gasped at his answer, not liking it very much.

Kurama spoke up again. "I think what she means to ask is, you didn't try to make a pass at him."

Hiei hissed through his teeth. The sound made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "He was drunk. He tried to overpower me-" He paused as Yasha gave an ill timed laugh at he idea. "-when he was stabbed, I fled."

Yasha commented, "the king will still look in your mind to see that."

Nanashi cringed at the memory of when he did that to her. "It's not as bad as it sounds," she told him.

Hiei looked up at her ruefully. "You could hardly handle it. You nearly passed out from it."

She hummed under her breath, bringing a shy hand up to her mouth. "It will exonerate you," she promised.

Hiei clicked his teeth in response.


	32. Chapter 32

The girl stood with Hiei before the king in his throne room. Empty but just the three of them and two of his guards. By the looks of him though, he did not need much of a guard. A beast of an elf. Hiei doubted somewhere down the line of his ancestry was completely elvish. Then again, ancestry could be deceptive as the wolf healer had discovered for him.

The girl had insisted she stand here with when the king read his mind, kept telling him it would be over fast. The king stood before him, trying to intimidate him with his size. Bigger men than him had fallen before him, and fallen hard. The king stood before him, ready to read his mind.

The king spoke in his deep voice, "just think about those moments and only those moments. It will be over quickly."

Hiei bit back a snarl, not wanting to go through it. He closed his eyes, feeling the king's hands come to either side of his head. He blocked the king from seeing anything else, only allowing him to see those few minutes.

Kastura. Fancied himself Lord Kastura, with all his wealth, but lacking any claim to any title. High rising son of a merchant elf. An electric elf, quite a rare breed. His wife, Cho was older than him. Part of his wealth had even come from her. It was a bit of a marriage in name only, as Hiei saw from when he started on the fake lord's household guard. Girls, even a few boys came and went in and out his bedroom. Hiei regretted letting him buy him out of the pits. The feeling of not knowing if this was your last fight was preferable to the looks the fake lord gave the lot of them.

Hiei blocked the king from seeing anything else from that short tenure bar that fateful night. The fake lord had been drunk, drinking well into the night. His wife had retired to bed long ago. He had sent off any other guards beyond Hiei to bed as well. Hiei had cursed his luck that he was stuck being the only guard.

The fake lord sat drinking, goading Hiei into drinking with him. Hiei drank one glass only, hardly wanting to give into the fake lord's pressure.

"So I've heard something of you," the fake lord slurred out at him. He sank absurdly in his chair, one leg over top the arm rest. "You've entertained a man a time or two."

Hiei blocked the king from seeing those time with a few willing men, and two willing women. The king tried to push for it, but gave in and moved back to the fake lord.

Hiei had only grunted under his breath at the fake lord. Too drunk, too vain, and too skinny for his like. "Apparently you're a fighter and a demon in more ways than one, more places than." This fake lord was getting on his nerves. He debated about telling off this fool and running off down the road. That would be preferable to serving him.

Hiei stayed at his post on the wall. The fake lord rose up from his chair clumsily. He reeked of the wine he had been drinking. He stumbled his way before Hiei. Hiei had been warned when he started that this could happen by the other members of the household guards. He was not about to let it happen to him.

The fake lord grabbed him by the shoulder with one hand, and reaching between his legs with the other hand. The other hand never got there. Hiei seized him by the wrist with near bone crushing force, staying his hand. He gave him an insolent look, challenging him.

Then he felt a nasty shock on his neck, making his shoulder seize up. He slipped his way out the fake lord's grip. He stood between the fake lord and the table he had been sitting at. He loosened his sword in its sheath as a nonverbal warning. He would be gone before sunrise now, he had promised himself. Being on the run would be better than being under this fool.

The fake lord rose to the challenge, instead of backing down. He drew his own tiny sword that hung on his hips. He could hardly use it worth a damn, it was more decoration than anything else. He still stepped forward towards Hiei. He had a murderous look on his face, pride wounded. He shoved Hiei against the table only because he was allowed to. He pinned his head down to the table by the neck, sword tip resting against his gut.

Hiei laughed to himself. So weak, so pathetic. All he could manage when given no resistance. He heard the fake lord grumble drunkenly above him. The fake lord's hand come to rest on his throat, a pulse of electricity shooting through there. He laughed again. Weak and pathetic sober, even worse drunk. He had killed more capable men in the fighting pits when he first started.

Hiei kicked the fake lord's legs out from under him, easily shoving him and his decorative sword forward and off of him, to the ground. That was all he wanted to do, that was all he had intended to do.

He swore under his breath when he saw what had actually happened. The fucking fool had somehow manage to lodge his own damn sword in his own damn gut when he fell. Hiei knew from the sight of the blood and the smell of the wound it was fatal. That was when he ran.

Hiei kicked the king out of his mind after that. He did not need to see anymore or know anymore. The king stepped away from him, a somber look in his eyes. "Seems like someone was lying," he stated knowingly. Both men were themselves sweating and panting. The two shared an unlikely companionable look.


	33. Chapter 33

Nanashi felt a slight jealousy brooding up within her when she watched King Hayate with Hiei. The two were unexpectedly companionable. Unexpectedly so, he was even allowed to eat at the head table next to the king like a guest of honor. An exonerated and glorified former pit fighter. Apparently the king reveled in watching him fight back in the day. After reading his mind, the king and his guard went with him personally to the widow of the man he killed to publicly exonerate him. The widow had been upset, even tried to attack Hiei. Ayane subdued her before Hiei or the king had the chance. Nanashi thought she could have been just as fast, if not faster.

Nanashi was at the head table still next to Jiro, but farther down the distance from the king. At least Yasha and Kurama sat with her, too. Helped move conversation along as Jiro was babbling less and frigid more. He seemed still offended by her previous comments.

Nanashi picked at her food, hardly wanting to eat. "... so tomorrow then? High noon?" Kurama said.

Nanashi glanced up at him, not sure what he meant, having not been following the conversation. Yasha gave her an elbow to her ribs. "I'm sorry, what?"

Kurama restated, "the cape of no return. We can burn it, but the evil that resides within it will be unleashed. The evil within needs something solid to reside in. If it is too long in the open air, it will dissipate into nothing. We need to destroy it out in the bright sun in a group. It should be weaker in the sunshine. As a group, it's less likely to latch onto one of us and possess us. Tomorrow we destroy it. You, me, Yasha, and Hiei."

"I can help," Jiro spoke up, voice almost cracking.

Nanashi kept her face neutral, hoping Kurama would tell him no. "The more the better, in this case," Kurama answered. "Only if you are willing to risk it."

"I am," Jiro answered in earnest. Nanashi stilled herself next to him, trying to hide her feelings. "I want to help the angel," he said formally.

"Tomorrow then," Nanashi agreed quietly and without any emotion. She heard the king roar in a fit of laughter. She scowled as she saw the king laughing with Hiei smirking next to him.


	34. Chapter 34

The sun burned blazing bright high in the sky above it, out in the courtyard away from all the trees. A warm, beautiful, and sunny day. A day that sapped at its strength and weakened its power. It sat on a pile of wood and kindling. Six people stood around it in a circle, a winged woman, a short man, a red haired man, a black haired man, a kingly man, and plain man. They were the only people within sight. Six of them when the winged woman had only expected five of them. The kingly man had joined in their group at the last minute.

The red haired man held an old book in his hands, flipping the page. "First, we burn it. Then we wait until the evil lurches out of it to escape the heat. The evil requires a solid host to survive. The evil will try to latch onto us. The more of us around it, the more it will have to split itself in its attack, the weaker it will be. It will reveal an evil desire within you and compound it. Resist it by thinking of your most happiest memory. Hold onto that moment. When it gives up on you, it will release you. When there is no one it can latch onto nearby, it will give up, fade away, and die."

"Sounds simple enough," the black haired man answered. "Nanashi, the matches," he nodded towards the winged woman.

The winged woman stepped forward, pulling a set of matches out of her pocket. It took two matches for her to set the kindling beneath it ablaze. She then stepped back from there in a rush.

The heat blazed around it, underneath it. The heat was getting unbearable. The flames licked at the frayed edges. The loose thread caught fire first. Then it began to spread towards the center of the cloak. It shriveled up in the middle of the cloak, trying to hide away from the flames. It was no hope for it buried within. It let loose a piercing shirk that startled the winged woman and the plain man around them. Those two covered their ears to block out the sound, while the other four stood their ground, unwavering.

The red headed man held the book, warning, "it's going to come out soon. It will split itself into six parts and try to attack each on of us." He slammed the book shut and dropped it to the ground at his feet.

It screeched once more, fleeing from the cindered cloak and floating above the fire. It was much too hot there. There were six of them surrounding it. Any of them would be more habitable than the raging flames underneath. It screamed once, splitting into six parts, trying to find at least one of them to latch onto.

The first one was the kingly man. The beast of a man roared aloud, shaking his head like a wild dog. His mind stayed focused on his queen and wife, how much he loved her. He would not do.

The second one, the plain man, was focused on his thirst to prove himself. He was focused on his previous accomplishments in academics as a child, proud at how he was always seen as more knowable than his cousin and his lost older brother. His pride in himself in his own small way. He would not do.

The third one, the red haired man, his mind was blank, just peaceful. He only thought of his late mother. The memory was slightly bitter, but not bitter enough to latch onto. Try as it might, it could not get a hold of him. It had no choice but to let go.

The fourth one, the black haired man, thought of the day he met the red haired man, teasing and flirting with him. The red haired man showed only curiosity and no interest, but the black haired man had happily worn him down. Unlatchable.

The fifth, the short man, thought with pride about his years in the fighting pits, retiring undefeated; someone very few fighters, man or woman, could ever boast about. No one would be able to take those memories away. It was useless to try.

The last one, the winged woman, struggled. Her mind was wondering from memory to memory. She thought about her cousin that she grew up with, but the memory saddened her because she missed him and thought about seeking him out when this ordeal is over. Then she tried to think about a beautiful woman, but that woman had disappeared on her, so that memory made her upset. Then she thought of a tall, muscular man who cared for her, but he was sent away from her by the kingly man, which made her angry. Then she tried to think about the short man next to her, but she thought about what a wealthy man who had kidnapped him, making her feel vengeful. Then she thought about the fast friendship between the kingly man and the short man, making her jealous. She would do.

The winged woman dropped to her knees, hands over her ears, and cried out. She trembled as it latched onto her. She kept trying to shake it off, saying 'no' over and over again. Within her soul was an angelic weapon, but that was easy to suppress.

"Fight it off!" the kingly man growled at her.

"Think about something that brought you joy," the red haired man advised.

The winged woman thought about her hometown now, but how upset she had once been growing for being treated like a half demon most of her life. Her brain scrambled for some happy thought, any happy thought.

"Her wings and hair are turning grey," the plain man said in alarm.

It pushed farther into her, making her turn her mind away from fleetingly happy thoughts and towards thoughts that made her angry and upset. It brought the hatred she felt towards the wealthy man in her mind. It challenged her to want to kill him. She shook her head at the imagined thought of the wealthy man laying beneath her after she killed.

"No, I don't want that," she whined out.

'Liar,' it thought to her.

"Wind serpent, please," she begged her angelic weapon. She could feel it stirring deep in her soul, but could not reach it. "Get it out of me, please!"

"Her hair and wings are getting darker," the plain man observed in a frightened voice.

She raised her head up, staring at him. 'Tell him how you truly feel,' it told her. Her lips trembled, trying to resist the urge to lash out at him. 'Say it.'

"I'll never- I don't-" she bit her tongue in resistance, not wanting to speak. "I don't want to marry you," she panted out. It tried to push her add 'ever,' but she shook her head, refusing.

She would not hurt the plain man like that. She lacked the desire for that. She thought about her new healer friend, how motherly and protective she was to her. She clung to that woman's comfort and how she called her 'sweetness.' It was loosening its grip on her. It would have to dig deeper if it was going to claim her.

"Stand down," the black haired man instructed. "The color change has stopped."

"It's dark grey. It might only be stalled," the kingly man strained out. "She's an angel, so we can't take any chances."

She looked up at the kingly man, eyes narrowing at him on her own free will. He had conjured up a bow and arrow from his own energy. At close range, she could tell he aimed at her heart. The dwelling up hatred she felt towards him was purely her own creation. He took away one of her lovers, he had told her in so many words she was a disappointment, and she was worried now he might, one way or another, take the short man away from her.

'Kill him,' it told her. 'You know you want to. Kill him before he can kill you.'

She reached for her wind serpent, but it was not about to let her unleash that. That might try to force it out. She gave up reaching for her wind serpent. She had a knife on her hip, given to her by the short man. She could use that.

She drew the knife, but then paused. The short man had given this knife. Her uncle made it for her. Her uncle had tried to save her from the wealthy man. She stayed her hand, holding it listlessly in the air.

"Shoot her!" the plain man told the kingly man. The kingly man stayed stock still.

"No!" the black haired man told the kingly man. The kingly man stayed stock still.

The plain man pointed out, "her hair and wings have gone completely black! The evil that was inside the cloak got her! She can't come back from that. She drew her knife and looks like she kill, for Great Mother's sake."

The black haired man came over to her and knelt in front of her at eye level. "You have to resist it," he begged her.

'Stab him, he's in your way,' it advised her.

"No," she whispered at both of them. Her right hand shook.

If she stabbed the black haired man, the kingly man would shoot her. Instead, she raised her left fist, punching the black haired man in the gut before her. She caught the black haired man by surprise, knocking the wind out of him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the red haired man and the short man exchange a wordless glance. The red haired man nodded. He stepped over to the black haired man, pulling him up to his feet. "Yasha, stand aside," he advised.

"He'll kill her," the black haired man wheezed out. "She's got to resist it."

"She's gone, even her eyes are gone pitch black," the plain one said. "Just shoot her, Hayate, and be done with it."

She turned back to the kingly man. He did not want to kill her, she could see it in his eyes. She smirked up at him boldly. Then she frowned grumpily as the short man stepped between her line of sight and the kingly man. She began resisting again, based on her feelings for the short man. She liked him, in more ways than one. She wanted him out of her way just now though. She rolled up onto the balls of her feet, standing a head taller than the short man.

"Get out of my way," she barked at him in a harsh voice. He stood his ground.

'Stab him,' it advised her. She refused, not out of fear, but out of desire to not hurt him. Her hand clutched tightly to her knife in her hand. It was align with her gut.

The short man spoke, "you want to kill the king." It was not a question. "That's it, that's the worse it could manage to bring out of you." She snarled at him, insulted by him. "Something supposedly so evil that not only could you not resist it, but you would it goad you into trying to do something so stupid. I thought you were smarter than that."

The insults stung. They made her want to drop the knife in her hand. It felt her desire to kill the kingly man ebbing away. "I..." she stuttered out.

The shorter man stepped right in front of her. Her wretched her right wrist. He was not trying to make her drop the knife, but rather pressed the blade against the space between his rib cage. He made her hold her hand there, even as she tried to pull it away. With his free hand, he reached up and clasped her behind the neck so she could not get away from him. She whimpered meekly.

"You want death? You want someone to die?" he asked right in her face. "You want to kill the king? You kill me first," he challenged.

Her hand trembled on the knife hilt. 'Do it,' it advised. 'Do you really think he could ever be yours? The king will just take him away from you, too.'

'Mistress,' she heard her wind serpent barely whisper in the back of her mind. She thought about the wind serpent, how she acquired, how it had helped her and protected her. She reached for it, trying to pull it back to her.

"What are you waiting for?!" the short man shouted in her face.

She could not decide, she wanted it, but surely had to resist it. She screamed, hand tightening on the hilt of the knife so hard it hurt. Then she let it go, letting it fall to the ground between the two of them. It bounced uselessly on the ground. The short man breathed a sigh of relief in front of her. She collapsed against him, shaking. He guided her to sink down to the ground with him and away from the knife. The black haired man ran over to them, kicking the knife way from them.

'Useless!' it roared at her, leaving her body.

It floated above her, the air was much too cold and much too thin. It needed something solid to inhabit lest it dissipate to nothing in the air. Yet dissipation came suddenly when a series of arrows volleyed through it, forcing its black and cloudy form to float apart until it was rendered nothingness.


	35. Chapter 35

Nanashi felt herself feel self conscious the rest of that day, quiet and withdrawn, but craving the company of others. For some reason in the aftermath of being possessed by the evil in the cloak, her hair got back to being raven black, but her wings now were brilliant and radiant white. Both changes were hard to miss.

Yasha was quick to point out it was not her fault that she was the one the evil within the cape of no return had clung to. She felt it was though because she had not been able to stay focused on one happy thought or the fact that she was the evilest in the group. He told her neither of those reasons mattered and it just took her longer to fight it off was all. She did not bother to tell him he was wrong.

In the evening when everyone went to bed, Nanashi thought about calling on one of her maids to come stay the night with her on her couch, but when she roamed the halls looking for either of them, she could not find them. When Touya from the king's guard shooed her away to bed, she went back in the direction of her rooms.

She was almost there when she realized she was near Hiei's room. She stood before the door, staring at it nervously. She recalled how he helped break the evil's release from her by commanding her to kill him. She almost had to, she remembered that desire to get around him in order to get a chance at killing King Hayate. She could not bring herself to kill him though, thankfully. She was unsure what she would have done or what would have happened if she killed her friend and mentor.

She steeled her nerve, rapping her knuckles on the door. She heard Hiei within huff, but moving about. She waited patiently, feeling shy and foolish standing there waiting, but she could not bring herself to uproot herself.

She heard him open the door in a huff, "Hayate, I told you-" he grumbled. He stopped abruptly in front of the open doorway. "Oh, it's you." She stood there in front of him, hand in front of her face. He looked behind him into his room. "Do you want to come in?" he asked cautiously.

"Just for a bit," she whispered, mind racing. She did not want to be alone, but was scared what he might expect if she stepped into his room. "Just to talk. Just to thank you," she mumbled out excuses.

"Hn," he grunted, cocking his head for her to follow him into the room. "Sit for a bit."

She followed him into his room. He had only one room, and it was smaller than hers. Nice, but smaller. He had one stiff chair that sat by a short table next to a tiny, unlit fire place. The chair did not even have arms upon it. He gestured for her to sit in the chair. She did so, sitting just as stiff as it was. He sat down on the short table across from her. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees and knees splayed out wide. He stared at her unblinking as neither of them spoke.

"I..." she started out. "I... um-"

"Don't start crying," he insisted. "If you want a nurse maid, go to Asa or Yasha."

She gasped softly at that chastisement. She was surprised by it. "I didn't want to be alone," she explained.

"Why?" he asked, eyes boring up at her.

He told her not to cry, so now she was determined to follow his request. "Out of the six of us, why was I the one who turned to be the most evil?" she asked hollowly. "I'm the one that's angelic..."

"You weren't," he told her firmly. "Yasha already told you that. Race has nothing to do with it."

"It has to be-" she started stubbornly.

"You weren't," he told her firmly. "You were the least focused, that was the problem. You were the least focused and the least trained of the six of us. You weren't the evilest target, you were the easiest target. That was the problem."

"I nearly killed you," she said, remembering.

"You weren't going to do it. There was no risk," he stated confidently.

She frowned ruefully, not sure how right he was. "I'll never be the easiest or weakest like that again," she vowed in determination.

He smirked up at her intriguingly. It made her heart skip a beat. "You'll need trained harder, and in different ways," he said vaguely.

"Can you train me like that? More so? Like we did before back home? Before Sakyo arrived?" Her voice was both hopeful and reminiscent.

He stared up at her in a way that made her more so nervous than excited. Stone faced, he said, "would you risk it?'

She felt a gnawing feeling growing in her stomach. She should not be here. She should go back to her rooms. Her lonely rooms. She rose up, excusing herself. He rose up with her. "I should go," she said slowly. She walked towards the door by herself, standing before it. Her hand rested on the knob, ready to turn it. She stayed her hand, thinking over his words and looks at her. She dropped her hand on the knob. "What kind of training?" asked, not turning around.

She heard him moving behind her. She held her breath and closed her eyes. She sensed him coming up behind her, standing close to her wings. He stroked the top of one, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Turn around, if you want to find out," he warned her.

She did as she was bid nervous, hands coming together in front of her chin. He had a calculating look in his eyes. He seized her wrists, yanking her arms down to her sides. Yet she was only nervous.

"You're not scared," he purred in interest. He stepped closer to her.

"Why? Because demons are said to be rough lovers?" she challenged bravely.

Without missing a beat, he shoved her back against the door, pressing his mouth against hers. She sunk into the kiss, pressing first to slip her tongue into his mouth. She opened her eyes, looking passed him as they kissed at the chair behind them. She tried to get her wrists free from his grasp, but could not manage it. She pushed him forward, feeling him smirk and chuckle as they kissed. She pushed over to the chair, getting him to sit on it. He let her wrists go with a shake, but grabbed her hips, yanking her down to sit on his lap. She could feel his hardness already. She shifted her mouth to kiss down along his neck softly. She could feel his hands tracing up and down her torso over her shirt. His hands slipped their way up smoothly to behind her neck, unhooking her shirt and bra together with nimble fingers.

He grabbed at the base of both of her braids, pulling her head away from his neck. She gasped in surprise at that. Her head hung high as he worked. He pulled off her bra with his free hand, throwing it down on the ground behind her. He then yanked the rest of her shirt down as far as he could on her waist.

His hand came to the back of her neck, pushing her ear in line with mouth. "Not too late to change your mind," he warned huskily. She answered by bringing a hand to the hem of his black sleeveless shirt, pulling it untucked from his black pants. He stayed her hand unexpectedly. "I'll not fuck you though," he warned her. She felt herself grow slightly colder. His hand came up cup her chin, using that hand's thumb to rub across her lower lip. "Everything else is on the table." He bucked his hips up into hers.

His hand pulled her hands to rest on his shoulders. Next, he shoved her hips as far forward as he could. Then he stood up, walking towards the bed. She jumped nervously, bringing her legs wrap around his waist. Her hands clung to his shoulders.

He carried her to the bed, dropping her down on it. He unraveled her from himself in a way that made her heart pound. "I just want to strip you down," he told her.

She drew a series of deep breaths as he did just that. He took off her shoes, then socks. His hands came up to her hips, pulling off her half removed shirted, pants, and panties together. He took his own chance to kick his boots and socks off for himself. She squirmed nervously, half wanting to cover herself up. His finger came up, tracing the slit between her legs. She gasped at that.

"You're aroused," he cooed down at her nervous form. His hands came to her hips, gripping them tightly. He pulled her toward the edge of the bed. "On your knees first," he told her, guiding her to do so.

She slipped down to her knees before him. His hand came under her chin, pulling her head up towards him. He let her chin go, bringing both hands up to undo his belts and pants. She watched as he dropped his own pants and boxers, and stepped out of them. She stared at his chest, unsure and too shy where else to look.

"You ever do this before?" he asked, hand on his cock. She shook her head. He knelt down next to her, pulling her hand up to her mouth. He brought her thumb, of all things, up to his mouth. "Like this," he preempted. He brought her thumb into his mouth, slipping his tongue around as he sucked on it. He took her thumb out of his mouth. "Not like this." He put her thumb back into her mouth, sliding his teeth along it, making her wince.

He gave her hand back to her and stood back over her. His hand came down to her chin, holding her head still, resting her head slightly against the bed. He stepped over to, cock in hand. She found herself hardly sure what to do as she opened her mouth to let him slip it in.


	36. Chapter 36

"You want her," the king whispered to Hiei quietly over dinner. The others around them were enthralled in their own conversations, too so to ease drop on them.

The king had caught him looking sidelong at the girl again. She look lonely, depressed even after she managed to shake the evil from the cape of no return out of her. It had tried to set her against the king to kill him. A fool's errand; she would never be strong enough to do that solely armed with one knife. Hiei put himself between the two of them, knowing the girl would never try to kill him. She liked him too much, was too attracted to him.

"What of it?" Hiei whispered back just as softly. "The last man who genuinely wanted her was sent away, was he not?"

The king growled under his breath. He regretted the swiftness of his actions on that part. He had only meant to protect the girl and keep her from becoming a fallen angel.

"You've had one before?" the king asked suggestively.

"Two," he answered. "Prefer men."

The king looked around the others around him. They were not paying him nor Hiei any mind. "Since she already been touched anyway... You could train her, without making her sin completely... men desire either virgins or experienced women..." he shook his head, flushed at what he was permitting.

Hiei suppressed a laugh that would have drawn attention to them. He gave the girl a side line glance. The idea was tempting. Fool around with her for a short time. Teach her to be a lover since she was no longer a virgin. Something he could certainly enjoy. "If she initiates," he decided. Why not? She looked like she could use it.

She did in fact initiate, coming to his room that very night to thank him. It did not take long to strip her down and have her on her knees before him, ready to take his cock in her mouth. He showed her how to suck him off. She follow direction for the most part. She kept her teeth off of him, and moved her tongue about. Yet she did not take much of him in her mouth as she would gag if she did. She was also too gentle. She was keeping him aroused, but was not going to get him off like that.

He reached his hand down, coming under her chin. She froze, looking up at him innocently. "I'm close," he warned her. "Just relax and breathe through the rhythm. Tap my leg if you can't handle it." She nodded as best she could with her mouth full.

After warning her, he thrust into her mouth, going slowly at first, but speeding up quick enough. She whimpered and gagged here and there, but kept her hands clenched down in her lap determinedly. When he came in her mouth, she whimpered and try to pull away, but he held her jaw tight.

"Swallow," he instructed her. He stayed in her mouth until she did. The sour look on her face warned him she was put off by the taste. She would grow used to it.

She brought the back of her hand to her mouth, coughing dryly. He pulled her up to her feet and pushed her to sit down on the bed before him. She bit her lip tempestuously before him. He stayed standing, stepping close enough to press up against her. He claimed her mouth unexpectedly. She winced, pulling her mouth away from him.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"I... you... your... hmm," she stuttered.

He smirked at her, grunting. "It's fine," he teased. "As fine as this," he preempted, slipping his hand between her legs. He stroked the outside of her mound, relishing in how wet she was for him. He would have liked to have been her first, but that did not mean he would not enjoy her now, for the time being. He took his hand away, drew her hips to the edge of the bed, and knelt down before her. He pushed her legs apart, commenting, "I think it's time I reciprocate."

She gasped as he drove his tongue inside of her. He licked at her, lapping at her even as she panted above him. One hand came up to the front of her mouth, while the other hand gripped the side of the bed. He felt her legs twitch, trying to close around his shoulders, but he would not let her do so. He could tell he was being too intense for her, but instead of letting up, he drove harder against her. She moaned softly as she came for him so quickly and so easily. So easy with one so untouched.

He rolled himself back to rest comfortably on his knees, pulling away from her. He watched her, red faced, lay her back down and the bed beneath her sleepily. He looked up at her curiously. He looked down at his cock. He was already semi hard again, could go for a second round. The temptation to fuck her where she lay arose up in him. He needed to leave her somewhat innocent there though. There were other ways to enjoy her for the time being.

He stood up, walking over to her on the bed. He straddled her torso, knees resting up by her rib cage. He looked at her breasts, studying them. The were big enough, if pressed together.

"Tired already?" he teased down at her closed eyes. He grabbed her breasts, one in each hand, kneading them firmly. She gasped, opening her eyes up at him. "Just lay down for this one. When I am close, I'll finish in your mouth." She nodded tiredly up at him in consent, making smile down at her. She smiled shyly back at him. He nestled himself down over her, guiding her hands up to press her breasts together around his cock. "Press hard, that's all you have to do."

She did as she was bid while he thrust himself back and forth between her breasts. Enjoyable in her own way, but her mouth was better. She winced a few times, likely from the friction, but voiced no complaints. He could feel her legs behind him shift and kick around. Likely this was turning her on all over again, but with no chance of relief. He brought his hands down to her nipples, pulling and pinching on them, making her squirm and whimper.

When he felt ready to finish, he let her breasts go, pushing his cock into her waiting mouth. It took him only a few thrusts to finish there with her. He shook as he did, feeling his own weariness getting at him.

He rolled his way off of her, laying on the bed next to her on his back. He panted, trying to get his breath to be slower and calmer. She was so compliant, so willing to please, so easy to please... He wanted to fuck her now, tired though he was.

He rolled over onto his side, seeing her laying on her back, face and chest flushed pink. Her eyes were closed and she panted deeply. She sleepily rolled over to her side, facing away from him. He smirked at the sight of her. Her wings really did fold neatly, tucked behind her back.

Giving into temptation, he slide up next to her, pressing himself against her back. He half sat up, resting one hand on her shoulder, and reaching his free hand between her legs. She cried out in surprise, squirming next to him. His finger ran over her clit, making one of her hand clutch the bed in a white knuckled grip.

"Ah... please..." she managed to breathe out. He took his hand on her shoulder, shoving her down onto her back. She kicked her legs jerkily. He slipped two fingers inside of her, making her moan. "I can't," she whimpered noisily. He answered her with a laugh before he snake his mouth down around her now untouched clit. "Oh, please," her voice trembled. He strove harder with both, enjoying the sounds she was making. When she came the second time, it was with a bit back scream and an arched back.

"You managed that well enough," he commented down at at her. She made no response, looking worn out by him. He laid himself down beside her. "I think you know best that you should keep this a secret," he told her softly, hand resting gently on her stomach.

He noticed her nodding just the slightest. King be damned, if she did not marry Jiro soon, he might not be able to hold back as he agreed.


	37. Chapter 37

Nanashi felt so nervous, a thrilling kind of nervous, being with Hiei behind King Hayate's back. The two men were fast friends, but she feared if Hiei was caught with her, he would be sent away just the same as Jin was.

Hiei would come to her room secretly at night, a few times waking her up. Sometimes he would be hasty, sometimes he would tease her until she thought to shove him off due frustration. He always thorough and intense. Just the thought of him made her grow hot all over again. Yet he would never truly sleep with her, even when she would beg him.

She lay next him, feeling overly spent by him. Her center hurt so good. He lay on his back with her resting her head on his shoulder. He had her mouth twice already, as was his custom. Nervously, she reached her hand down his cock, rubbing it as he liked. His face flinched, betraying that he was still awake. She kept rubbing him though, as he did not stay her hand. She even caught him smirking, showing he was enjoying himself.

Tiredly, she pulled herself up to a sitting position, hand still on him. She slipped herself over his legs, straddling him. He still kept his eyes closed, his breathing growing deeper and noisier. It was the chance she wanted to take.

When she went to slip him inside of her, he reacted faster than she expected. He had her pinned down on her back beneath him, one hand resting but not pressing against her neck.

"I told you no," he hissed down at her, intentionally scaring her this time. She quivered beneath him, not sure how to reply. "Are you so hot yet," he took his hand off her neck and slid it down to her center, cupping it. She shook her head, not wanting him all of a sudden.

He rolled off of her, leaving her bed and going over to her small table where a jug of water and a glass sat untouched. He poured himself a glass of water, and drained it wordlessly.

She sat up on the bed, watching him carefully, feeling ready to reach for the wind serpent if she needed it. "I'm sorry," she whispered, doubting he heard her.

He turned back to her, giving her a harsh stare. He sat the glass down on the table, stepping cautiously back over to her to the bed. "You try that again, and we're done," he warned her.

She nodded apprehensively. She shifted her gaze down to her hands. "We're done soon anyway..." she mumbled. She could sense him staring hard at her. "My uncle is almost here. When he gets here, Jiro will ask him if he can marry me...still," she added as an afterthought. He wanted the angel part of her, for certain.

"You're not married yet," he observed in a softer tone. "The night before we'll stop," he said. He climbed back into the bed with her, but stiffer than usual as he slipped under the covers.

"You're staying the night?" she asked, not sure why when he usually did not. "Will you wake me when you leave?" she asked demurely.

"So long as you don't try anything stupid again," he warned.

He stayed with her, although she slept at a distance from him. He woke her when he left, with a discreet kiss that woke her up for only a few moments.

He came to her again the next night, looking at her with a colder look, a bolder look within his eyes when he woke her up. She looked up at him, feeling a mix of arousal and nerves bubbling up in her stomach. He had her undressed so fast, that the chill of the room was upon faster than the heat of his own body could be.

He took off his sword and sat it down on the bed next to her. Wordlessly, he placed her on back, covering her with firm caresses and kisses. That made her warm up faster, making her pant. He sat himself up on the bed, pulling one of his two white belts off of his pants. He gave it a snap, testing its strength. She flinched at the sound of it.

He saw her flinched. He smirked at her curiously. "Just what do you think I plan to do?" he asked, before hitting himself gently on the arm with it. "Hit you with it?" He snapped it once more together.

"Don't," she breathed, sitting up.

He chuckled under his breath, sliding up the bed to be right next to her. "Wasn't planning on it. Besides, I don't like leaving marks. Nor are you mine to mark anyway."

She knew better with him now to not remark the thought in her head that she could be his if he wanted her. "What are you planning to do?" she asked him.

His mouth came up to her ear, "a compromise," he told her. He brought his hand down to trail her torso. "You want something bigger than my fingers inside of you, and I want you to keep your hands to yourself tonight. If I tie you down, it could work."

She felt her face go flush with the notion. She nodded nervously, hoping he was about to give into her tonight. She lay down, letting him take her hands and bind them by the wrists with his belt to the bars between her bed stand. His hands roamed over her body, again and again, turning her on and warming her up against the cool air of the room. He pushed her legs apart, slipping two fingers inside of her, but to pleasure her as she thought. Rather to stretch her out in an odd way. He smirked up at her teasingly as he slid his fingers out. Yet then he lifted his sheathed sword up, placing it facing hilt first between her legs.

"What are you doing?" she asked, legs pulling back from him just a bit.

"Compromise," he said slyly. "It's not as big as I am, but it might sate you more than my hand does."

She nodded nervously, gasping as he slid the hilt three fourths of its length inside of her. It hurt, more than she was expecting it to.

"Relax around it," he advised her, running barely there fingers along her sides. He made her shiver, but also made her relax a bit.

He brought his mouth down to the top of her mound, lapping his tongue along her clit. She whimpered, feeling herself tighten around the sword hilt, making what he was doing more intense. Her legs twitched, and her voice cried out. She pulled on her bonds, wanting to cover her mouth, but found herself unable to do so. She bit her lip, trying not to let her voice carry.

He hummed against her, making her pant and squirm. He knew that made her come fast, damn him. She fought not to cry out still. He pushed the hilt further inside of her, twisting it around. She gave in, letting herself moan as she came.

He pulled the hilt out from her, wiping it off carelessly on her bed sheets. He swung out off of the bed and set his sword carefully to rest against her nightstand carefully.

He turned back to her on bed, leaning down over her. "You enjoy that?" he asked. She nodded, making his eyes dance with amusement. He straddled her chest, pulling the other belt off. He undid his pants, pulling himself out before her. His hand moved fast over himself. His other hand came to her mouth, rubbing his thumb over her lips. "Watch tonight, and open your mouth when I say."

She watched him, confused as his hand pumped fast and furiously. Usually he would take her mouth or breasts, rarely using his own hand and never so much. She wondered if it was because of what she tried to do last night.

He was close, she could tell. "Open," he commanded. She did so, letting him slip into her mouth and finish there.

After that, he panted over her, untying her wrists. He checked them over, rubbing them gently. "A little red, but won't leave a mark," he commented aloud. "Even though you were pulling on them quite a bit." He smirked down at her. "Better?" he asked quizzically.

She hummed and nodded, even though she disagreed.


	38. Chapter 38

"That's a dumb deal you've made," the stranger commented when Hiei met with him and the fox privately in their rooms the next morning. "You can touch her, but not fuck her. Train her up for Jiro. He he he."

Hiei grunted, disliking the strangers comments. The fox had yet to speak, but had listened while changing out of his pajamas and into his clothes for the day.

The fox finally spoke, "if she's unwilling to give you up, the king might send you away as well. He did that with Jin to keep her away from him. He's still not allowed back. The king values his friendship with you yes, but he values his cousin's chances and opportunities more."

Hiei frowned at both of them, regretting telling them a thing about his deal with the king. He had half hoped they would steer him in the right direction about what to do with the girl and how to give her up when the time came. Telling him he was foolish was not worth his time. Hiei left them where they were, not bothering to say another word. He heard the stranger call out to him, but he ignored his teasing goodbye.

He went to the kitchens, fetching his own breakfast to eat alone. He kept to himself for the morning, watching the others from a distance, especially the girl. He watched her training in the yard from a window high up. She was sparing with the fox, him training her, trying to get her to move faster when she swung her ax around. The thing was heavy to her yet clearly, but she was swinging it around more gracefully than she had been before.

He sensed the king approaching him before he heard or saw him. He nearly left to avoid him, but figured he should face him now rather than later. "What do you want?" he grumbled out as the king stood next to him, watching the girl in her training.

"Hello, your grace. How can I be of service, your grace," the king teased him jovially. "Your rudeness is almost refreshing," he added. He looked down at the girl. She had hoisted the ax above her head, swinging it in an arcing circle before bringing it down so hard that it could have split the fox in two if he had been in its path. "She's gotten better," he commented. "Has she gotten better?" he asked curiously.

Hiei shifted his feet, leaning against the window sill. "Yes," he answered tersely.

"Learning, but not too much?" he asked, still watching the girl with curiosity. She had used her wings to give her a bigger jump back away from the fox's whip.

"I could teach her more," Hiei suggested, knowing what his answer would be. She twirled the ax in her hands shakily, but skillfully. The fox kept trying to hit her with his whip, but she kept deflecting it.

"Keep her pure, as sinless as possible," the king kept his stance. The fox was moving towards her, trying to drive her back.

"Hn," he grunted under his breath. "The cloak has already trapped her in a half good half evil situation, which is what made her raven haired and white winged. I don't think you need to worry about her becoming a fallen angel of destruction anymore."

"You sound like Kurama," the king said in disgust.

"So intelligent, then," Hiei quipped. The girl had stumbled, and the fox did not let up on her. She slowed her circle in front of her. The fox hit her, striking her face, torso, and thigh.

The king gritted his teeth. "A half demon, half human-"

"An intelligent half demon," Hiei interrupted, enjoying how it annoyed the king when he complimented the fox. The fox earned the compliments anyway. "Whose trained her better than the other king's guardsmen have."

The girl stood before the fox, panting with her hands on her thighs. "He thinks he knows everything," the king grumbled.

"The wise and well read tend to believe that, yes," Hiei commented. "He's a well rounded individual." The girl looked determined. She brought her ax back out.

"Her uncle arrives today if reports are true. With a certain man named Haruto who insisted to come along with him," the king explained. The girl charged the fox.

Hiei perked up at the name of the keeper. "I know him. He's-" he stopped himself. The keeper was a full angel and the girl's true father. Yet a some blood bond curse kept him from revealing that to anyone who did not guess it already. The keeper had also told Hiei to marry the girl and protect her from the procurer that way.

"Nanashi," the fox called out.

Both Hiei and the king looked down at the yard. The girl knelt on the ground, hand clenching under her rib cage. She shook her head pushing herself to stand back up on her own two feet. "I'm alright. Just a pain I get from time to time. I haven't had it since I left home though..."

"This Haruto is what?" the king asked once the girl and the fox resumed sparring.

Hiei could not say it. If he said it, it could kill the girl and the keeper both. "He's Nanashi's old boss. He cares for her. More than her uncle does."

The king hummed. He was about to say something, but the sound of one horn blast echoed from the outer walls by the watchers. "One blast means allies. That should be them. Come, you know them just as well as we do."

The king led him to the council room, sending for the girl, the cousin, and the queen to join them when they met with the keeper and the uncle arrived. The fox and stranger came as well, kind of bullying their way into the meeting.

The girl had been rushed in there from her training, all sweaty and disheveled in her haste to see them. She rushed over to the keeper, hugging him in her excitement to see him. She then turned to the uncle and froze before him, not sure how to greet him. She boldly approached him, giving the quickest, stiffest hug before stepping back away in a rush to stand next to Hiei.

The lot of them sat down, with the girl sitting between Hiei and the cousin. The cousin seemed irked that she sat next to Hiei. He had reached over and took the girl's hand in his own. Despite the girl not daring to tell anyone about what she and Hiei had been doing at night, he had a feeling rumors had reached the cousin's ears, or worse, the king had told him about her training with Hiei and to suck it up. The girl did not pull her hand away like Hiei would have preferred.

They spoke, mostly the king, the girl, and the uncle. The uncle was upset about the girl running off and robbing him, but was placated when the king promised to pay him double the money stolen from him, even though that was money from the procurer. The king had already sent double the money to the procurer's business so as to keep the girl from risking falling into his debt.

Once the uncle and the keeper were caught up with all that had happened with the girl and Hiei, the king spoke next, "any clue whom her father might have been?" he directed the question to the uncle.

"No idea," the uncle answered, looking like an intimidated bull before a a larger beast. The keeper sat there stock still. Hiei figured he would have gladly spoken up if he could have. Hiei caught the girl twitch slightly, bringing her free hand to her middle, which likely meant the keeper thought of sharing his identity. "Her mother did not seem to know either."

The king sighed. If only he knew what the keeper was, he would be thrilled to say the least. "Well, in that case, as the closest thing to her father present, my cousin, Lord Jiro, has a question for you. Jiro?" he said, turning to the cousin.

Jiro looked pale, like he had swallowed a bug by accident. "If it would please you, sir, I, um," the cousin stumbled out. "If you would honor me with the permission to marry your niece?"

The uncle frowned at the cousin, trying to at least keep a persona of respectfulness in front of the king, queen, and his cousin. The uncle's gaze flipped from Hiei to the girl to the cousin. "The last man who asked me for that permission tried to kill her and was going to kill him," he nodded over to Hiei. "She aught to decide that for herself, that way I don't take the blame for what could happen as a result."

The cousin stared at the uncle, awe struck. That was not the way of this country. The king gave the cousin's chair a nudging kick next to him. The cousin turned to the girl, not quite meeting her eyes. He slipped from his chair to one knee before her, shoving his chair clumsily out of his way. He kept the girl's hand in his, pulling her to sit and face him.

"My angel, will you marry me?" he rushed out, not looking her in the eyes.

The girl stared down at him, not knowing what to do or what to say. She froze in the moment. It was Hiei's turn to kick her chair. He tapped his foot against her chair's leg.

"Yes," she breathed in a resigned voice. Hiei hated the sound of it.


	39. Chapter 39

"What about this dress, my angel?" Queen Minha asked Nanashi.

Nanashi looked at the newest white gown laid on her bed along with the dozen of other ones lay there. "It's beautiful, your grace," she answered sullenly.

"That's what you've said about the last few," Queen Minha grumbled at her. For such a short woman, she was not afraid of being intimidating.

Nanashi sighed, shifting her feet. "My apologies, your grace," she said looking down at the newest dress that was laid out. "The feather patterns are intricately woven- or beaded." She was unsure how the feathery pattern was made exactly. She looked over at her two maids, Sayuri and Midori. Both still held at least three or four more garment bags with dresses in there arms. "I just need a dress that fits my wings," she pointed out. "An open upper back for them."

"Each one of those has that, angel," Queen Minha responded. She went over to Sayuri, taking yet another dress out of its garment bag. "Oh, what about this one?" Queen Minha asked. She laid yet another almost identical dress down on the bed over top other similar dresses. "So many dress makers throughout the city, even a few as far as Gandara and Alaric have sent dresses they've made for you to chose from."

Nanashi looked the dresses while she would rather go back out to the yard to train. None of those dresses look practical enough for her to fight in. She gave the queen a side long glance. She needed to just pick one and get it over with. She had already told the queen she could plan her wedding to Jiro for her, every single aspects. The queen had been elated at that permission, but insisted Nanashi picked the dress herself. She even had the wedding rushed and planned for seven days from now. A week. A rush. All she had to do was pick one of the dresses and then not think about that wedding for a week.

She stepped over to the dresses on the bed, pretending to look over each of the dresses there carefully. She dug under the the dresses and pulled one out at random. "I like this one best," she answered.

'You like all of them and none of them,' the wind serpent glowered to her.

She ignored them as Queen Minha was now elated with her. "I was hoping you would pick that one!" She clapped her hands in excitement.

Only then did Nanashi really study the dress in hand. Open upper back, no straps around her neck, free flowing skirt decorated with feathers and flowers intermixed. The loveliest thing she could ever imagine wearing, yet she was felt her stomach bubble with a lack of excitement and full of dread about what was to come.

After that relieving decision, Queen Minha was quick to instruct Sayuri and Midori to clean up the rest of the dresses and put them back into their proper garment bags. Nanashi helped them even though the queen told her to leave it to them and come take a walk with her in the garden for some fresh air. Nanashi knew if she went with the queen, all she would talk about is wedding planning.

Yet Nanashi went with her, leaving Midori and Sayuri to reshuffle the dresses when she would rather stay with them than the queen. Still, the queen managed to to get her to go with her. Nanashi pretended to listen to Queen Minha prattle on about the dress she chose, the flowers for the wedding, the food for the reception, etc.

Nanashi tuned her out, only paying attention enough to hum and say something placating and agreeable. Her mind kept wandering to Hiei and the last night she was with him, if she call that a night with him.

He had come to room the same night that she had accepted Jiro's proposal. He slipped in the room quietly, not waking her until he was bending over her, kissing her. His hand had already been roaming into her pants. She awoke in shock, quivering and gasping.

"Hiei," she whispered his name. He hummed under his breath at her, two fingers sliding inside her without delay. She closed her eyes, half wanting to give into him and half feeling called morally to stop him. She was engaged now. She should not allow him this anymore. She reached her hand down and grabbed his wrist, staying his hand. "Stop," she forced herself to say.

Hiei went suddenly cold with her. He pulled his hand away from her and he stood upright over her. "I thought we were going to continue your training until your wedding night?" he was clearly trying to keep his tone from having bite with her.

She frowned up at him, and sat up. She wanted him, in more ways than one. She pulled him over by the hand, kissing him affectionately, but chastely. "I want to stop tonight," she said loyally.

He scowled down at her, clearly outraged with her response. He shook his hand off of hers, scowl deepening. He left the room with out a word. He had left a chill behind in his wake that still lingered with her, even a few days later.

A few days later where she only got to see him at a distance in training and meal times. Even the one time she tried to engage with him during training, he stalked away from her wordlessly. Yasha had witnessed it, telling her not to think too much on it.

The queen kept rambling, and Nanashi kept dwelling. Both of them were almost startled when king's guard's men Touya came to fetch them on orders of the king. He told them the king was holding court and allowing those outside of the castle grounds to come and meet with him and let him judge any of their cases. He wanted Queen Minha with him and he wanted the angel to be seen by those outside of the castle's walls.

Nanashi went with them, but once they reached the throne room, Queen Minha sat on her throne next King Hayate while Nanashi stood below and nearby the thrones with both Kurama and Yasha. She had to work her way through the crowd to get there though. So many people were congested in the room. It felt like all of them where staring at her upper back and her wings tucked and pressed tightly against her back and shoulders. Once she got to Kurama, Yasha, Haruto, and her uncle, she felt relieved to stand with them and face most of the people in the room front on. Yasha even had the grace and wherewithal to stand behind her and block the view of her wings from the few people behind them.

"Why is the king doing this?" she asked Kurama quietly as the king began to introduce himself to those in the room, as if no one in the room did not know who he was.

"He likes to open his court at least one month so the people can come to him with their pleas, for justice, and for other issues they can bring to the king," Kurama answered. "By the way, the king almost decided to put you out front and introduce you to all the people here. To show you off, so to speak," he added with a disgruntled tone.

She gasped, looking up at him shocked. She looked back up at the king as he continued to drone on. "I talked him out of it," Yasha whispered behind her in her ear. "Your engagement will be announced, but you can still avoid being put on stage so to speak. He's agreed if you shake your head when he makes the announcement, he won't have you come up to the throne to him."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she whispered back to him.

"Yes, my angel. If it please, my angel. You are far too shy, my angel," Yasha teased back at her, making laugh quietly to herself.

The king droned on. Some people Nanashi had never seen came up to the king, with one plight or question or another. Nanashi half listened without any true interest in what was being said. She looking around the room. She saw Asa standing up in the balcony with her two maids, Midori and Sayuri. It was less crowded up there. She had not had to look long to find Hiei. He stood as a king's guardsman next to the king as Ayane stood on the other side by the queen. He was clothed in black, sword at his side, looking dark and fierce. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was studying the room, looking for any potential threats to the king or the queen. He looked like a wild wolf playing house dog. He was made for fighting and war, not protecting a king who could easily protect himself.

The court had gone on so long that Nanashi's knees and feet felt tired and numb. She shifted her feet, trying to wake them up. The petitions were a dull affair. The need for more builders to help a stone mason, the need for more men to keep back the wild demons in the north that were harassing the the folk who lived up there.

Nanashi thought likely as any that the meeting was going to draw to a close now and her engagement to Jiro was about to be announced when the main doors to the throne room were thrown open and in walked none other than Sakyo and Younger Toguro. She sucked in a breath, reaching for her wind serpent. Her hatred of him boiled within her. She did not need the cape's evil presence within her to desire to kill him. He was so close. If it were not too crowded... Maybe when he left she could pick him off from a distance without anyone knowing it was her. Nick a bow and arrow set off someone so it could not be traced back to her. She stared at him in full hatred as he approached the king with his own petition. What was worse, the king gave him permission to speak.

"Your grace, I come to you with own petition," Sakyo began smoothly. "I know I haven't the best track record, even when compared to some of your new king's guard," he nodded up at Hiei standing next to the king. "His record is still blacker than mine, yet you pardoned him for his murder and stood him next to you."

King Hayate kept his face neutral when he replied, "I heard his petition and saw in his mind that the murder Hiei committed that you speak of was done in his own self defense. While he did run after the murder, he did not deserve the kidnapping and imprisonment you put him through. Something I'm sure you could not endure as long as he did," the king pointed out in a vague threat. "As for the crime of running off to evade justice, he has been conscripted to stand as a member of the king's guard for the next two years at least in servitude to the crown. My queen and my council have found that sufficient punishment for that minor crime."

Sakyo sighed, taking on an air of humility. Nanashi did not buy it for a second. She doubted very much that the king would by it either.

"What did the king mean by he saw into Hiei's mind?" Haruto whispered quietly over to Kurama.

Kurama thought carefully before speaking in a quiet voice, "the king can read a person's mind, shift through all their memories and see a person's life. He did it to Nanashi right after she saved the prince. He did it to Hiei after he recovered from his bone infection."

Haruto gave a gasp of excitement. "I will need to speak with this king privately as soon as possible," he said to himself.

Nanashi had no time or energy to spare listening to Haruto's side commentary. She kept focused on the king and Sakyo. If only the king would carry out his threat and starve and imprison Sakyo in the same way he had to Hiei.

Sakyo gave him a low bow. "Then your grace, what about a murder done with the intention of killing someone? Someone that was not trying to harm, but only subdue their murderer when their murderer snuck up on them in the middle of the night?"

Nanashi frowned at Sakyo's vague words. "What's is he talking about?" Nanashi asked Yasha.

"Fuck," Yasha said in reply.

Next to her, Kurama went rigid. "Get her out of here. Quickly and quietly," he said to Yasha.

"What are you talking about?" Nanashi asked them both.

Yasha had her by the arm, trying to tug her back through the crowd. She wretched her arm away and dug in her heels. "Trust me," Yasha insisted.

Yasha took her by the hand firmly and pulling her towards the back wall and then towards the main doors at a brisk pace. "Yasha, let me go," she hissed out.

King Hayate meanwhile had kept talking. "What do you mean? Speak plainly," he insisted.

Sakyo said, "at once your grace. When I held your king's guard hostage, our camp was attacked in the middle of the night. One of my men, Elder Toguro had his fingers buried in the ground around out camp. He had the ability to stretch and contort his body in impossible ways. Our camp was attacked, so he went after the assailant, to subdue them only. They killed him for it. So now I have come to you to plea to you for that assailant's death in payment for my colleague's brother's death here," he nodded over at the silent Younger Toguro. "Will you give us that one small piece of solace at least?"

Yasha kept pulling her towards the door, but Nanashi kept her eyes trained on King Hayate and Sakyo. She wanted to hear the king deny him. "You can have their life, so long you promise to never harm my king's guard Hiei, the angel, or anyone else in connection with Nanashi."

Nanashi saw from the distance and barely through the crowd that Sakyo shook her head. Yasha had tugged her over to the main doors, but was now arguing with Touya about letting them out, even though no one was allowed to leave the room until the king had.

Sakyo kept talking. "Your grace, that agreement won't quite work."

"Why not, sir?" King Hayate asked.

"The assailant I am talking about was the angel, Nanashi," Sakyo revealed. "I want her death for the death of the man she murdered. She killed him intentionally after he tried to defend our camp."

"What?" Nanashi gasped, eyes going wide. She felt like her blood froze in the pit of her stomach. She slipped away Yasha, successfully this time. "I did not!" she shouted in rage. She shoved her way through the crowd as fast as she could. She felt all eyes on her, but she ignored them. She had only one target in mind.

"You did indeed," Sakyo said, now addressing her. "You ordered your wind serpent to kill him. It filled his blood stream with air bubbles. One managed to reach his heart and destroy it."

"I never!" she shouted, raging. She was half way to them now. She would kill him, here and now, where he stood.

At least she tried to before Kurama was on her. He came through the crowd after her, wrapping his arms around her and dragging her backwards even as she kicked and struggled against him.

"Stop this, right now," he hissed in her ear. "You'll only make this worse."

"Kurama, get the angel out here!" King Hayate shouted over them and the now murmuring crowd. "Take her to her rooms and keep her there under guard."

"I didn't kill him!" Nanashi shouted as Kurama dragged her out of the room and into the hallway. This time around, Touya let them leave the room with Yasha at their side.

The door shut with a heavy, silencing slam behind them. Nanashi still fought and kicked at Kurama, trying to get away from him. "I didn't kill Elder Toguro!" she spat, "but I will kill Sakyo for this. For everything!" she insisted.

"Yasha, calm her down," Kurama insisted. "Just calmer for a few minutes, nothing else."

Yasha stepped over to her struggling in Kurama's arms, pulling off his gloves. His bare hands touched her face with a cooling touch. "Stay calm for the next five minutes," he whispered in her ear.

In spite of herself, she panted and calmed down in Kurama's hands, unsure why though. She watched Yasha put his gloves back on. Kurama did not let her go, but she quit fighting him. "What did you just do to me?" she asked him in a somber voice.

"I can be quite influential, when I want to be," Yasha told her vaguely.

She wanted to shout at him in irritation for being so vague, but she found the thought to be undesirable. All she could manage was to shake her head in her frustration.

Yasha continued to speak to her. "While I've got you calm, you should know you actually did kill Elder Toguro."

Her eyes went wide. "I didn't," she replied. She thought back to that night, calmly and focused. "I told my wind serpent to get him off of me, that was all. Elder Toguro was still alive when Sakyo threw the cape of no return over top of me. There's no way I could have killed him."

"It put air in his blood stream and caused him to die. Likely his heart exploded," Yasha explained to her. "It took awhile. It happened after you were disappeared. His last words were about how he couldn't move his heart away from them all."

Her jaw dropped. She wanted to panic anew, but found she could not. "I didn't... I didn't mean to..." she mumbled. "The king will have no choice but to give me over to Sakyo, won't he?" she added forlornly.

"He did put his foot in his mouth about that, that's for sure," Yasha commented. "He let Sakyo goad him into that almost agreement, but I can't imagine he'll let it happen. He may exile you or punish you for the murder though. He can't let it drop, not after all those people in their witnessed it."

"Sakyo likely bidded his time after the king's men rescued us to come after you like this," Kurama added. "Sakyo has wanted you dead for a while, and has failed to kill you twice. This is just another way he is trying get you."

She felt an overwhelming desire to break down, but found she could not. Just a hollow feeling sat inside her. It felt wrong, perverse that she could not react how she naturally wanted to. "I will kill him before he gets the chance," she said coldly.

The main doors opened before them, making Kurama and Yasha jump, but only making Nanashi look up. Out walked King Hayate and Queen Minha. Ayane stood next to the queen protectively. Both looked livid, with the king looking sickened. "She's supposed to be up in her rooms right now," he roared at the sight of the three of them. "Take her there, right now," he insisted thickly.

Kurama dropped his arms around her and slipped one arm into one of hers, pulling her along the hallway ahead of the king and queen. Yasha walked in step with her on her other side.

When Nanashi heard the doors open again, she turned back to look. She saw from behind the shorter Queen Minha Sakyo walking a few paces behind the monarchs with Younger Toguro at his side, leading Hiei in between the two of them with his hands bound in front of him. She knew the ropes around his hands, had seen their like before. The kind that were infused with draining wards.

She felt all her hollow calmness drain out of her and be replaced by a fury that came rushing back. She dug in her heels and tried to turn around. Kurama had his arms wrapped around her before she could even think to evade him. "Why does he have Hiei!?" she yelled.

"Should have said ten minutes," she heard Yasha say next to her. She saw at a glance he was pulling off his gloves again.

"Not in the open," Kurama growled at Yasha. Yasha grumbled, but kept his hands in his gloves this time around.

Kurama had given up trying to drag her down the hallway and now seemed to have settled on getting her against the wall with him to the let the other two trios pass them by. Yasha stood beside them. Kurama was breathing deeply, she could feel it. He was tiring from having to hold her back.

The king, queen, and Ayane walked passed them with averted eyes. "Her rooms, Kurama. I will speak to her there within an hour."

When Sakyo, Elder Toguro, and Hiei passed, only Sakyo spoke. "Once again, he's willing to sacrifice himself for you. He's volunteered to die in your place. And the king agreed publicly to that compromise. So long as I leave you and yours in peace after this." The three of them continued to walk past, two heads held high and one hung low.

The main doors opened again, cutting off the echo Sakyo's words were reverberating over the walls. Nanashi gaped open mouth at him and smug, smiling face. Her face darkened. She saw, but barely cared as Haruto went running past all of them, shouting for the king. Sakyo was getting farther and farther down the hall the now, yet she could not shake Kurama loose. She would lose him if he got too much farther. She summoned up her wind serpent around her neck, having it get between her and Kurama so she could get away from him. She ran after Sakyo, using her wings to go faster than Yasha and Kurama could to catch up to them.

"Yes, your grace, please, right now!" she heard Haruto's voice echo off the wall of the hallway. "Before she can do anything else foolish. I can't explain, but it may stop her from doing anything else foolish."

Nanashi kept running, running pass the left turn of the hallway where the monarchs stood with Haruto and Ayane. "Ayane, stop her," the queen ordered.

Nanashi kept running, wishing the hallway was wider so she could fly instead of run. She felt a sharp pain engulf her middle, but she would not stop, could not stop. It slowed her down, but she could still see Sakyo, Younger Toguro, and Hiei walking briskly, practically jogging in front of her. She was so close.

That was when pain felt like it exploded inside of her, forcing her to stop and collapse to the ground. Her vision went black, no matter how much she tried to blink the darkness away. Her ears felt muted, all sounds she should have heard receding into silence. The ground she lay on felt less hard with every passing, trudging heartbeat. She forced herself to crawl, or at least what felt like crawling in this blackened, muted, softened world she had suddenly been rendered to.

She heard the sounds of buffeting wind behind her, but not behind her. Like it was in her head, but also behind her. 'My servant, do not turn around,' a voice echoed inside her mind and behind her. 'Escape the blood bond curse upon you. The king has broken it.'

She shook her head, at least in her mind. 'I have to reach him,' she insisted. She crawled forward, at least in her mind. Once she reached him, she knew exactly what she would do.


	40. Chapter 40

Nanashi slept on, trapped within her own mind. She kept dreaming she could hear the others around her talking, even as far as dreaming they were there with her in the unknown void her mind resided in. She could not tell if these were dreams, or real or imagined. She heard them talking over her, but it was hard to tell who was talking as they all seemed to talk over her. The king's voice stood out over all of them.

"If I enter her mind, we can see why she's been asleep for so long and if I can pull her out of it," King Hayate insisted. She saw him in the void with her, but when she went to touch him, her hand passed right through him.

"We know why she's asleep," Kurama countered. He appeared with her, standing in front of King Hayate. Nanashi waved her hand in his face, trying to get his attention, but failed. "It's the warlock's curse that Haruto told us about. The blood bond curse. When you read his memories, you broke the curse, but nearly killed them both in the process."

"He recovered after a few hours though, she's been asleep for over two days and shows no sign or rousing," the king replied.

"I've been asleep?" she asked them. They did not hear her.

"I can enter her mind and see how we can awaken her," the king rationalized.

"If her mind is fragile, you could kill her. You almost did kill her," Kurama argued back.

"That was not my fault!" the king growled back. "How was I to know her father's sudden insistence in the middle of all that other drama would mean he was trying to get me to break the blood bond curse over him!"

"Oh, I guess you're completely innocent then," Kurama snapped annoyingly. "You just publicly allowed Hiei to be recaptured by Sakyo, who plans on killing him."

"You weren't in the room, you were busy chitchatting in the hallway when I told you to get her to her rooms!" the king retorted.

"I didn't need to be in the room to know you were all too willing to sacrifice him for her when he gave you the opportunity," Kurama growled back. "Besides, I'm not your king's guard, so I don't have to follow your orders."

Haruto appeared in between the two men. "Gentlemen, please stop this. Arguing over her will not help. I woke up on my own, she just needs more time to wake up on her own. Being a half human, half angel, it will take her longer to recover than a full blooded angel."

"What are you talking about?" Nanashi asked them. They did not hear her, which she could not understand why. "Where's Hiei? Why can't you just free him? Why are you letting Sakyo keep hold of him?" She threw a punch at King Hayate, only to see her hand travel right through him like he was some ghost.

She stared down at the ground in annoyance, huffing. King Hayate blinked out of the void, making her jump at his disappearance. Kurama did the same. She saw Haruto stayed in her mind, making her wish she could talk to him, that he could hear her.

"I don't blame you for being asleep so long," he said. "It's a good way to avoid hearing the two of them argue. Or the queen argue. Or Jiro or Yasha argue over what to do with you and me and Hiei and Sakyo." He spoke to her forlornly. "We only want you to wake up," he said to her.

"I want to," she answered. "Please, I want to, but I don't know how."

He kept right on talking, not hearing a single word she said. "I'm sorry for how I stopped from going after Sakyo, but King Hayate says I did the right thing. You would not have been able stop him from taking Hiei. Kurama thinks it was a ploy to get you to follow after them so Younger Toguro could kill you like he wanted to after you killed his brother," Haruto continued.

"I witnessed it, Hiei's offer to take your place even though King Hayate insisted you were under his protection, so he could not give you up to Sakyo. The rich versus the powerful. Sakyo made him look almost like a power mad tyrant." He shook his head. "'Take me in her place,' was what Hiei said the moment the room had gone quiet. Sakyo was excited to take that offer as soon as he made it. King Hayate tried to not allow it, but reluctantly agreed. It looked like a man letting his brother go to the slaughter."

She listened to Haruto ramble on, wishing she could say something back to him. She did not bother to speak at him anymore, knowing he would not hear her anyway.

"You went after them, and I knew I had to stop you someway. I knew the risk that if I had King Hayate read my mind without warning him about the blood bond curse hanging over me and you, it could kill us both, but it could also break the curse and free us. Telling someone something and having your memories read are luckily two different enough things for us. I saw the opportunity to stop you and free us both. Thankfully it did. I am your father."

She gasped at him, staring at him in disbelief.

"I am an angel, not a fallen one, but one sent on a mission. Much like Kaze was. My mission was to protect your mother," he kept explaining himself. She was unsure if he even knew she could hear him. "She ran away from home at a young age, to escape her abusive mother who favored her sister. She reached the city of Alaric far in the north, the one where demons live in a part of some of the neighborhoods. She worked just enough to keep herself alive, jobs she would not be proud of if she were alive today. She fell in with a demonic gang, got noticed by one warlock among them in particular. He read her fortune on a whim, and discovered she had a most interesting destiny ahead of her: her descendants were destined to change the world and start a dynasty that would last generations.

"The warlock took an avid interest in her, taking her into his home and under his care and protection. She also had the interest of The Great Hawk Spirit in my realm. This full blooded human needed freed from the warlock's influence and away from him. He was both evil and ambitious. He could not be allowed to let his bloodline intermingle with hers.

"I was tasked to go to her a guardian angel, which was why she could see me when humans can't normally see angels among them. I told her what I was and what I was sent to do. She did not believe me at first, but did once I revealed my wings to her. She would not go with me though. The warlock had her enthralled to him. She had fallen in love with him. He wanted to be the father of her children, to have his descendants be the ones as part of that prophecy.

"One night, they had gotten into a fight, so she came to me battered and bruised. I healed her, and then... one thing led to another, and you were conceived... You know by now how the process is goes...

"The next day, I went with her to confront the warlock, to tell him she was no longer going to be with him anymore. He sensed your conception by first and told us, furious that I had father a child off you when he had tried so hard and failed. He cursed us before I got the chance to defend us. He bound me and then went after your mother. He knocked your mother out and then took all of her memories of the past year away from her. He magicked her away after that, despite how much I pleaded with him to bring her back. He then cursed me with a blood bond curse to never tell her or anyone who I was to her or to you. If I did, with the nature of blood bond curses, I would die and anyone who shares my blood would die.

"He knocked me out after that, too. I woke up cold and alone on the streets. Much to my shock, he had also taken my wings away from me, thus trapping me in the realm, unable to fly myself back to the heavenly realm that is run by the Great Hawk Spirit. I recovered my strength and then went after that warlock, killing him in his sleep at the first opportunity I got.

"Then sought out your mother, remembering where she was from. I got myself to her hometown eventually. I had to also do somethings I am not proud of. I figured if I could get her to fall for me once, I could get her to fall in love with me just like I was in love with her. Once I got there, however, I found out you were born by then and your mother had passed away. I stayed in that town though, for you. I wanted to be close to you, even though I knew I could never tell you who I was because of the blood bond curse.

"Only one person in all those years ever guessed at who I really was to you. Hiei. He figured it out, and I told him to take you away. To get you away from Sakyo. To marry you if that was what it would take.

"I never imagined what would happen after that, after you left to save Hiei after Sakyo had taken him. That you would end up with a pair of wings of your own after rescuing an angel who had failed at his own mission. And his weapon. And become someone of value to the king himself. To even be engaged to be married to the king's cousin."

He paused after that, looking somberly around his surroundings that she could not see. "Wake up for us. I know you can. I know you can figure this out."

After all that confession that she had watched and listened from him, Haruto blinked out of existence for her. "Come back!" she called out. She waited for what felt like minutes. "Someone, come back," she grumbled.

No one did, even as she looked around herself in this nonexistent abyss she was trapped in. She could not even reach her wind serpent, for it was asleep when she was asleep. She huffed, sitting back down on the ground, even though it was same looking as the air, walls, and sky around her. She thought about Haruto's confession, her mother, the dead warlock who had placed those curses upon them all. Maybe this was another one of those curses, her being stuck in a mental prison of who knows where.

"Great Mother," she swore, echoing the words of Yasha. She missed him, but not most of all.

"My child," a voice echoed behind her.

Nanashi gasped, turning around to see a large hawk standing before her, as if coming from nowhere. She stared boldly at it, unblinking and unsure what to do. Coming to her senses, she rolled over and bowed low before the other worldly being. "Your..." she stumbled, unsure how to properly address her.

"Mother," the Great Hawk Spirit said before her, bowing herself low before Nanashi, wings spread out wide and low before her. When the Great Hawk Spirit straightened, Nanashi sat up on her knees, not sure what to do. "Rise, my child." Nanashi did as she was bid. "Approach." She took a few steps closer, standing at a formal distance from the being before her. "Closer, so I can look at you." Nanashi stood before her, trying not to tremble. She could feel her eyes studying her over. "I can't see much of anything of your father in you, beyond your wings. I suppose that's the doing of the warlock who magicked you all in his vengeance, as you finally have found out about now that the king has inadvertently broken the blood bond curse over you and your father. But your mother is displayed abundantly in you.

"You have served me well since you got your wings pulled out of you and inherited the wind serpent from Kaze. You even took up the mantle of completing his mission from me when he failed in it." The Great Hawk Spirit stepped closer to her, brushing her large beak affectionately over her cheek. "Yet you've chosen to stay here, on the precipice of life and death, lingering here for days. You cannot stay here, and you should not chose death, unless you wish to evade the prophecy made on your mother. You are her only child, so you must live on."

"I don't chose to be here," Nanashi started. "I want to leave, I want to wake up, but I don't know how. How do I wake up?"

The Great Hawk Spirit let loose a sort of a bird like purr. "You have two choices. Come with me to the death and the afterlife. Or send me away, fall asleep here, and wake up back in the world of the living."

"I want to live," Nanashi insisted rapidly. "I want to live, I want-"

"Good," the Great Hawk Spirit's eyes sparkled in a smile before her. "Before I go then, I need you to relay a message for me to the king. Since he had befriended your Hiei, King Hayate has been wondering about something about him in particular; something he has no way of proving. Tell the king his suspicion is correct."

"Suspicion about what?" Nanashi asked curiously.

The Great Hawk Spirit's eyes sparkled before her. "The king will know," she insisted vaguely. "Now, my child, when I leave you, lay down here and go to sleep. Once you do, you will awake in the mortal realm, where you belong."

With that, the Great Hawk Spirit came ever closer to her, wrapping her wings around her in an affectionate hug. When she pulled away, she was gone, just like the others had been gone. Nanashi looked around for her, trying to see where she might have gone.

"Lay down and sleep," she murmured to herself. She did not feel tired, nor hunger, nor thirsty for that matter, even as she thought about how she should have felt those things for as long as she was asleep.

She sighed, laying herself faithfully down on the ground and closed her eyes, awaiting sleep to claim her.


	41. Chapter 41

Nanashi gasped at the sudden jolt of wakefulness washing over her. She sat bolt upright in her bed, half tangled up in her blankets.

"My angel," she heard a voice exclaim off to her left side. She look over to see Jiro sitting by her bed side, the book he had had in his hands dropped to the floor, forgotten. He leaned forward towards her, making her draw back. "You've been asleep for three days."

She looked at him, surprised. "Three days," she murmured. "What... what's... what's happened in three days? Where is everyone?" A moment of realization washed over her. "Where's my father?"

"They're all..." Jiro started, but did not finish.

"They're all what?" Nanashi said, turning to face Jiro. She twisted her way out of the blankets to sit with her legs dangling off the bed.

"They're all... at the fighting pits..." he admitted truthfully.

"The fighting pits?" Nanashi asked, mind racing. "Why?" Jiro frowned to himself. Whatever it was, it was not something he wanted to share. "Tell me," she pressed. She leaned forward, lay a firm, insistent hand on his knee.

Jiro pulled his knee away. "Hiei's execution," he admitted sullenly. She gaped at him, wide eyed. "Sakyo's idea. One more fight so to speak. Well actually, fifty of them." She gasped, hardly comprehending the number against Hiei. "Man versus a zoo, it's being billed as. He's to fight against fifty beasts. If he manages to survive, he is free to walk away with his life."

"Demon animals or regular animals?" Nanashi asked, assuming the correct answer.

"Demon animals," Jiro said. "Doxies, were-bears, wyverns, giant spider, a sphinx, and the like are on the list."

Nanashi said to herself, "even he can't defeat so many."

She rose up, pausing as she stood as her head rushed. She recalled she had been asleep for days. She doubted she was fed much more than broth and herbs while she had slept. Determinedly, she walked towards the windows of her rooms anyway. She opened the widest one up. There was enough room for her to jump out of it and then fly off to where the fighting pits were. They were in sight of the castle grounds. She could see them off in the distance.

"My angel, where are you going?" Jiro stood up, following after her.

"To save Hiei," she answered without turning around.

Jiro came behind, grabbing her forearm, trying to turn her around. "My angel, no. The king said if awoke before the fight, that you were to stay here. I cannot let you leave." In nonverbal answer, she shook his hand out of his grip and shoved him back away from her. She had not meant to shove him so hard, but he fell to the floor underneath them. She turned back to the window, bringing herself to stand on its ledge. "My angel, no," Jiro called after her. "My angel, if you go, our engagement is off!" Nanashi turned around, looking back at him shock at his bold words. "You heard me. You've been two half breeds already, I can stomach that fact. And now you want to go after one and rescue him?"

Nanashi stared down at him, almost wanting to pity him. She took the ring he had given her off of her ring, tossing down to the ground at him. Then she jumped from the wind and flew off.

She flew towards the fighting pits, leaving the castle grounds for the first time since she arrived in the castle. They were farther away than she expected. It tired her out a bit more than she liked to reach them. She circled the fighting pits, seeing far down below the sight of a figure in black fighting with a bear like creature. Hiei. He was holding his own against it. About a dozen other dead demon animal carcasses lay in the fighting pit near them. Nanashi sought out instead to find King Hayate. She convinced him once, begging, to get him to save Hiei. She could do it again, bargain however hard she must.

King Hayate sat in a private booth towards the front of the fighting pits, giving the three of them and their three kings guards a front row seat to the match. Nanashi flew down and landed right in front of the king, blocking his view.

"Angel!" King Hayate exclaimed at the sight of her. "You're not supposed to be here!" He looked shocked, but also sullen and like he had not had a good night's rest in a while. The queen did not look much better.

Nanashi stared down at him ruefully. "Free him," she demanded, pointing her finger in the direction of the fighting pits behind her.

"Angel-" King Hayate began.

"Now!" she demanded louder.

King Hayate rose up on his feet, standing over her in his impressive stature. "I can't. I've tried," he explained.

"Liar," she accused.

King Hayate snarled down at her. "I tried. A king who angers the rich and powerful might not be king for long. The best deal I could make was if he survived against fifty demonic beasts, he could walk free. He's on number twelve."

"You saved him once before when I asked you to," she pointed out. "Save him again, and I'll do whatever you want," she bargained desperately.

King Hayate frowned sorrowfully down at her. "Not this time, my angel. He may yet survive." She frowned, annoyed that that deal would not work this time. He looked down at her left hand curiously. "Where's your engagement ring from Jiro?" he rushed out.

"He tried to stop me from leaving the castle, said he would call off the engagement if I did. I threw it at him," she explained briefly.

King Hayate snarled, growling under his breath. "Why would he... He did it out of emotion, not logic. Your engagement is not off quite yet."

Nanashi stared up at him curiously. "Save Hiei and I'll agree to call it back on," she bargained once more. That one had to work.

King Hayate shook his head. "He has to survive against-"

"I'll marry anyone you want!" she interrupted the king. "I'll marry any elf you want!"

King Hayate growled, shaking his head. "My angel-"

Nanashi interrupted him again, "I have a message for you from the Great Hawk Spirit." He stopped talking, staring down at her in awe. "She came to me in my sleep. She told me how to get myself back awake. She gave me a message for you." She pointed back towards Hiei's direction. "Save him and I will give you the message."

He growled louder at her, outright annoyed with her. "Tell me and I'll save him," he demanded. She shook her head resolutely. "Nanashi," he said her name as a warning.

"He just has to survive, that was the deal?" Nanashi asked coldly. King Hayate nodded down at her. "If he survives, you get your message," she preempted. Without another word, she turned her back on the king and flew into the fighting pit, even as the prince, the king, and the queen called after her.

Nanashi flew towards Hiei and the were-bear he was still fighting with. The were-bear was charging at him, even though he had his sword drawn. He had his eyes only on the were-bear heading straight for him. Summoning up the wind serpent as an ax, shouting as she brought down, severing its head from body before it could even realize she was there.

Hiei stared up at her in disbelief as she landed in front of him. "You fool! What are you doing here?!"

"Rescuing you," she replied. She reached forward, grabbing his arm in attempt to pick him up and fly him out of the fighting pits.

He yanked his arm back out of her grip. "Be reasonable! The king struck a deal. Fifty demonic beasts and I'll walk away. Both of us walk away with our lives."

She looked him over. He had a few scrapes and bruises here and there and looked flushed, and only after fighting twelve, now thirteen beasts. Thirty-seven more were going to be terribly difficult for him in the long haul. She shook her head. "You be reasonable." She closed the distance between them. "You either come with me now or I stay and fight with you. You're not going to simply sacrifice yourself for me like that."

"Get out of here. You have more to live for than that. You've got your wedding to Jiro to live for. He'll keep you safe with his influence and title. He'll give you a full and happy life," he growled at her. She held up her left hand, showing her lack of a ring on that finger anymore. "You are a fool..." he said, but this time with a glint in his eye.

She closed the gap between them, grabbing him by his scarf, and kissing him. She gasped as he slipped his tongue into her mouth immediately, deepening the kiss. Then, unexpectedly, he pulled away from her, shoving her behind him. He threw his sword straight forward, catching the behemoth of a mountain troll that was wandering towards them in the face with it. His sword went under the troll's nose came out the back of its skull. It fell back down to the ground, dead. Hiei ran over to it in a huff, retrieving his sword from it, giving it a shake to get the blood and brain matter from the blade.

An announcement then echoed over the fighting pits. "Anyone along with the fighter in the pits takes their own life into their hands. If they die, it's their own fault." The voice was Sakyo's. Nanashi felt the desire to leave Hiei long enough to go hunt Sakyo down and kill him.

She resisted the temptation when she saw the next two animals released after them. Two kappas came towards them, looking out of place so far from water. Nanashi brought her wind serpent back out as an ax, standing posed and ready. Hiei stood next to her, whispering to her, "when they are closer bow deeply, but don't take your eyes off of them. See the dent full of water on their heads?" She nodded. "If the water empties, they are rendered powerless. Bowing could get that to happen."

They closed the distance between them and the kappas, Nanashi following Hiei's lead, bowing deeply, but not taking her eyes off of either kappa. Both of them were foolish enough to bow right back. The water emptied right out of both of the tops of their heads. Nanashi had hardly realized Hiei moved next when the two kappas laid dead before them.

"Fifteen down, thirty-five to go," she commented. She felt pretty sure the next thirty-five, or even the next one were not going to be as easy.

"Nanashi!" She heard someone in the crowd out her name. She turned towards the sound of it, seeing none other than her long lost cousin, Yusuke, shoving his way through the crowd to reach the edge of the stands. He leaned over the rails, shouting, "Nanashi! What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Yusuke!" she shouted back up at him in disbelief. "What are you doing here?!" she right back up at him.

"Well, I made it to the capital, got injured, well, died-" he started explaining.

"What?!" she gasped.

"Eh, died-ish. Took on a job fighting off some of these beasties, as well as some like your friend there, but just now got to retire after a few adventures," he rambled over to her, much to her disbelief. "It's a long story. You see-"

Nanashi missed the rest of the story as she heard a screech behind her. Four harpies, a head shorter than Hiei, came flying into the arena with them. They beat their wings in time, creating a fierce wind and dust storm together in arena. The dust got into Nanashi's eyes, stinging and making it difficult to see. She wanted to fly up and get them, but when she had half unfurled her wings, the wild wind they were creating made her slide back on the ground, even as she tried to dig her heels into the ground.

Just after that, a bright blue blast shot through the air, taking out all four harpies in one shot, stilling the air around the arena abruptly. "Hey, I was talking!" Yusuke shouted at the harpies as they fell to the ground.

"Urameshi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" a ginger haired young man came shoving his way through the crowd to stand next to Yusuke.

"That's the cousin I told you about. I think I ought to keep her from dying so soon after our reunion," Yusuke explained right before he jumped into the arena with Nanashi. "When did you get wings? Wait, are you the rumored angel that rescued the prince on a hunting trip?" Nanashi smiled, nodding over at him. She went to open her mouth to say something clever, but Yusuke was yelling again. "Kuwabara, what do you think you're doing?" he called over to the ginger who had jumped into the arena after him.

"I not letting you be the one who rescues these two love birds. I'm the champion of love here, not you!" Kuwabara responded. "I can help protect them just as much as I do my sweet love, Yukina!" He turned back up to the crowd, waving in a mad excitement. A bewildered, teal haired woman waved back at him. She looked short to Nanashi, about as short as Hiei.

"Yukina," Hiei whispered the name behind Nanashi. She looked back at him questioningly, but he merely shook his head back at her.

"Hey, look alive!" A shout came from the crowd. Nanashi whipped her head around, recognizing Yasha's voice. Nanashi saw both Yasha and Kurama leaning over the railing on the other side of them.

Nanashi whipped her head back around, seeing a pack of six dire wolves had been released in with them. Then looked both hungrier and meaner than the ones Nanashi had dealt with when she rescued the prince.

"Yasha, let's go," Nanashi heard Kurama shout, right before jumping into the fighting pit himself.

"Do we have to?" Yasha asked following right behind Kurama and stumbling his way towards the lot of them. "One dire wolf, one person," he added, pointing out the obvious.

Nanashi stood ready with the others. When the dire wolves got close enough, she picked one out, running towards it. She swung her ax at it, but it dodge around it and charged at her chest, teeth bared. It knocked her down paws planted firmly on her chest. She brought her hands up, holding its snapping jaws away from her face. Her wind serpent coiled up around its neck, strangling it. She kicked it off of her, bringing herself crouching before it, even as her wind serpent stayed tight around its neck.

A grunt came from behind her, followed by an electric orange sword coming plunging down through her wolf's scowl.

Nanashi looked up, seeing Kuwabara standing over her. He held his hand outstretched before her. She took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "Thanks," she huffed.

"You're welcome. Nanashi, right?" Kuwabara answered her. She nodded. "Alright, fifteen more to go," he cheered.

Nanashi looked at him, frowning. "Twenty-five, you idiot," Yusuke corrected.

Nanashi looked over the others. Kurama was nursing a bit mark on his side, with Yasha standing by his side. Hiei flicked the blood off his sword, panting.

None of the six of them had time to dwell on the correct number how ever, facing the sight of ten more demonic animals coming out to face them next: a bansee, a large three headed dog, a chimera, a manticore, a minotaur, an ogre, a sphinx, a thunderbird, a wraith, and hobgoblin. Nanashi felt unsure now how the six of them could manage against ten beasts at once.

The thunderbird flew up into the air channeling a sudden thunderstorm over all of them. The sudden rain shower, thundering, and lightning made it so much worse in Nanashi's mind. She gave Hiei a quick glance before leaping up into the air, flying up through the sudden downpour towards the thunderbird. The rain made it difficult for her to see and to fly.

'Set me loose,' the wind serpent directed her. She did as bid, hoping it was a good idea. Lightning cracked across the sky at her, making her flinch. 'This sounds like a bad idea, but I'm going to need you to get me struck by lightning.'

"What?!" she exclaimed, stopping mid-flight.

'It was something Kaze used to do as a way to super charge me before a fight. We used to do it with the lightning serpent before it and its owner passed away,' the wind serpent explained forlornly.

Nanashi saw a flash of a vision of the angel Kaze standing with another angel who looked similar to him. The wind serpent was bit by the lightning serpent held by the other angel. The electricity shocked through the wind serpent, making it grow and transform into a seven foot, winged dragon.

"Do you think that will work?" she shouted at the wind serpent over the roar of the stormy weather.

'One way to find out,' it hissed confidently.

Nanashi shook her, not sure how else they could manage to get at the thunderbird. She flew closer to it, hovering it around it, trying to get its attention. It noticed her once it got close enough, throwing a lightning bolt straight at her. She dodged it, panicky at she felt the sizzle of the bolt zoom pass her. She flew closer still, the wind serpent egging her on. Another bolt whizzed towards her with an insane crack. The wind serpent jumped out towards it, biting it as the bolt flew passed.

Nanashi shouted in panic, watching the electric surge supercharge the wind serpent while she felt the aftershock of the static. She watched in shock as the wind serpent grew both bigger and longer than she was, growing its own wings and two front claws.

'Climb on my back,' the wind serpent instructed her. 'It will be easier for us to stay tethered together.'

She did as bid once more, surprised at how brilliantly and swiftly the wind serpent, now more like, the wind dragon cut through the sky and the storm like it was not even there. It flew right at the thunderbird.

When the two flying creatures collided, Nanashi felt rocked, needing to cling to the wind dragon for dear life. The wind dragon clawed and scraped at the thunderbird's back, trying to get at its neck. The thunderbird created an even larger storm, lightning bolts flying haphazardly in the sky as the it tried to shake the pair of them lose.

The wind dragon claws dug into the thunderbird's back, making the creature cry out in anguish. The wind dragon then flew away from its back over its head only to round on it again to go for the underbelly.

The thunderbird clawed and shot lightning at them, nearly catching Nanashi in the process, had the wind dragon not done a barrel roll in the sky to protect. Her stomach flipped from the move like an afterthought. She had no time to to relish in that thought however as the thunderbird roared at them, charging at them in return.

The two of them collided, jarring her in the process. It felt like she had been the center of a volatile explosion. She clung to the back of the wind dragon for dear life, feeling the world spin and turn over and over again above her. She squeezed her eyes shut for a few breathtaking moments. When the world came back into focus for her, she was still astride the wind dragon, which was panting and stationary on the ground of the fighting pit. The dead body of the thunderbird lay beneath it under the rays of harsh sunlight. She slid off the right side of it, hand maintaining physical contact with it. She knelt down, vomiting over the damp sand in front of her feet.

"Nanashi, watch out!" Yusuke's voice cut through the dizzy haze in her mind.

She turned her head to look behind her, seeing a black-brown blur charging towards her. The minotaur was charging out her, roaring, horns facing towards her. The wind dragon tried to get in front of her, but the minotaur was too fast for either of them. It caught her in the side and the wing with its horns, goring her in the wing and grazing across her side. She screamed as it picked her up and threw her in the air. Her wind dragon caught her in its jaws, going at the minotaur with its claws.

Hiei was there in an instant, stabbing the minotaur in the gut. "Put her down!" he shouted, aiming his sword at the the wind dragon threateningly.

The wind dragon obeyed him, setting her down and then transforming back into its smaller form, but staying as a dragon.

Nanashi lay on the ground where it put her, trying to sit up, but wincing as pain cut through her left wing and left side. Her hand went to her side, stomach flipping at feeling how wet and sticky it was right there. She heard a snap and a sicken thud behind her before pain shot up through her from her left wing. She let out just a small gasp, when she would have much rather screamed.

"Yasha!" Hiei roared the name right next to her. A haggard looking Yasha was in front of her in an instant. He stared at her and Hiei in wide eyed disbelief.

"What is it?" she choked out. She started looking around, seeing her cousin and his friend still fighting with a few other beasts.

Yasha's bare hands clamped down on her face, making her look only at his worried face.

"Don't look around!" Hiei ordered her. "Only at Yasha." She swallowed, starting to feel woozy. Her eyes rolled for a split second. "Put her to sleep!" Hiei ordered Yasha.

"Asleep she could-" Yasha began protesting.

"Asleep you can get her to your sister. A talented healer is what she needs right now," Hiei insisted. "Minha is the closest one."

Yasha looked conflicted. Nanashi saw behind Yasha that Kurama had taken out the manticore, and was now rushing towards the trio of them. Yasha looked behind himself at Kurama and then turned back to Nanashi. He leaned his head down, whispering in her ear, "sleep until tomorrow morning." His voice cracked when he made the order.

The last thing Nanashi noticed was a falling sensation. Her hand reached out towards Hiei, but never made contact with him.


	42. Chapter 42

"You should have just pardoned her," Minha had told Hayate hundreds of times.

He made such a stupid call agreeing to let Sakyo have the killer of his late cohort put to death for vengeance, not without knowing who was being talked about first. He should have made Sakyo name the killer without being lured into a verbal trap, then he could have refused to turn the angel over, just give her a slap on the wrist punishment instead. She was much to valuable to be lost in such a ludicrous way.

Her father had shared the prophecy made over her mother with them while the angel slept. The angel needed to have at least one child to continue on her mother's destiny and begin a dynasty. With any luck, she could have a daughter in the next two years that could be physically mature enough to be married off to Takashi without him getting too old for her. So long as she was cared for properly.

Takashi. Minha looked over at her son sitting next to her in the fighting pit stands. He was watching the sky, hardly blinking, even as rain dropped down over them. They had been watching Hiei fight, with the angel coming in and trying to demand his freedom. When Hayate refused, she jumped into the ring with him. Followed by four others, Yasha, Kurama, her cousin, and another human. They watched the group take out a pack of dire wolves with ease, but now had trouble with the next ten demonic beasts that were loosed.

Takashi fidgeted in his seat. He was worried about the angel, up there in an aerial battle in the sky against the thunderbird. He loved her, his hero. If anything were to happen to her, he would be devastated.

Minha heard a roaring cry, seeing the thunderbird falling speedily towards the ground, with a semi-transparent white dragon attacking it as it fell. Minha watched in shock as the angel was riding the dragon, commanding it even. The rain, lightning, and thunder stopped abruptly as the thunderbird hit the sand with a sandstorm producing thud. The dragon landed gracefully next to the dead creature. When the sand dust had cleared, Minha saw that the angel had scrambled off the back of dragon, and then, much to Minha's dismay, vomited all over the ground in the most unladylike fashion.

"Nanashi!" Hiei's voice roared over to her from the other side of the fighting pit. It was ridiculous enough that he was in there in the first place, not to mention that the angel, Kurama, Yasha, and two strangers whom knew Nanashi had joined him in the fray. Minha racked her mind for a way to convince Hayate to pardon them, setting his fear of looking tyrannical for pardoning whomever he wanted aside. He was the king by blood and rights. He did not have to submit to anyone like that.

Minha looked over at the space between Hiei and the angel. A minotaur was charging straight for her. Minha gasped at the sight of catching her in the wing and side, throwing her up in the air. The dragon caught her quick enough, but even at a distance, the blood frothing from her wounds were visible. Hiei flitted over to her in a rush, slaying the minotaur himself before turning back to the angel. He called Yasha over to them. That was when Minha noticed her left wing. It hung lower than her right one, and at an unnatural angle. Takashi let out a sickening whimper while Minha stared open mouthed when the top half of the angel's wing fell from her back and to the ground. Yasha held the angel's face in his hands, not letting her see what had happened. He then whispered something in her ear. She slumped before him unconscious. The other four men, Kurama and Hiei included, were still fighting with the remaining demonic beasts. Yasha held the angel. He was struggling to figure out a way to pick her up with half her wing missing.

Minha rose to her feet. "Pardon them. All of them. Now," she whispered the demand to Hayate.

She looked at Hayate. With her standing and him sitting, they were of equal height. He looked shocked. "I..." he puttered out uselessly.

"This stupid match of a death sentence might have cost the angel her wing," Minha hissed at him. "Pardon them!"

"She... she won't die... she could be healed..." Hayate ruled, shifting uncomfortably.

Minha gritted her teeth, trying to decide what to do next. The angel needed a healer immediately, a talented one. Minha knew she was one of the best, better than Asa. "Stop the match!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. "I pardon them all!" she ruled, unsure if Hayate would allow her that as it contradicted him. Nothing happened. She did know one way that could both get the angel aid immediately and force Hayate's hand. She ran to the edge of the stands and jumped over the barrier.

"Minha!" she heard Hayate shout behind her.

Minha ignored him. The fall to the ground was farther than she expected, shocking her system when she hit the ground. Adrenaline spiked through her, allowing her to ignore any pain or injuries she may have endured. She sprinted across the sand towards Yasha and the angel. She shoved him over, ordering, "get her on her stomach now." Yasha fumbled to follow her orders. "Get her left wing stretched out and align the broken part with the part still attached." He did as he was bid, Minha helping him as he moved. She tried to keep her mind clear and focus, rather dwelling on the trauma the angel just went through. She could not be lost, nor could her wing be lost. "Keep her and me guarded. I need to focus if I am going to properly reattach her wing," she instructed. The demonic beasts were still fighting around them with the other.

"Mother!" Minha heard the voice of her son echo across the fighting pit.

She looked up, even though she should have kept her eyes on the angel. Takashi was down in the fighting pit now as well, running towards them. His clean and pristine sword in his hand. The chimera saw him, turning away from its battle with the ginger haired young man with a bright orange energy sword and towards her son. Its three different and ugly heads roared at it rounded on him. Yasha was on his feet, running towards him, but was much too far away to reach him in time. No one was close enough to reach them in time. Takashi turned to face the chimera coming for him, sword held out in front of him like a club.

When the chimera leapt, a green vine shot out over the distance, wrapping itself around Takashi's waist, yanking him out of the chimera's grasp just in time. Kurama had his rose whip in hand, tugging it over and over until Takashi was with him. Kurama put him protectively behind him, shielding him from the chimera. His rose whip lashed again and again at the chimera, forcing the beast keep its distance from the two of them. Yet Kurama looked worn out himself, lashing the whip slower and more sluggishly. He was backing up with Takashi held fast behind him. The chimera was getting closer and closer still.

Hiei was suddenly standing close to both Minha and the angel, hovering protectively. "Heal her," he grunted down at her.

Minha heard the sounds of fresh roars echo across the fighting pit. Four more beasts had been loosed in the fighting pit, not to mention the Younger Toguro. She did not think she could heal the angel without protection in these conditions. She still had to try. She bent over the angel, trying to focus, to make bone, sinew, muscle, and joints to knit back to together. She blocked everything out, even the off and animistic smell from the fighting pits.

"STOP THIS MADNESS IN THE NAME OF YOUR KING!" she heard Hayate roar over the everything. Everything seemed to stop. Even the beasts seem to pause at the sound of his voice. "I PARDON THEM ALL!" he stated, jumping into the fighting pits, joining the fray. Ayane had as well, running across the sand to Minha.

The chimera seemed to jump back to its senses first. Its heads roared, running towards Hayate as he was the newest prey. Hayate met it fearless, bow and arrow conjured up in an instant. Three arrows were buried in its large chest before the beast to close half the distance between them.

Minha turned back to the angel, channeling all her energy and focus into healing her wing back on. She tuned out anything and everything around her, trusting that Ayane and Hiei would protect them. She had to succeed in this, less the angel be grounded forever. Ayane was standing guard over the two of them with Hiei protectively. Minha silently thanked the Great Hawk Spirit that she had been studying the angel's wing every chance she could get when around her. Bone first, muscle second, ligaments, blood vessels, all in good time. She tried not to think about how much blood she might be losing in the process.

Minha's neck felt stiff by the time she had finished with the wing and turned to the angel side. She was struggling to get the angel onto her back. Hiei bent down long enough to assist her. Her side was bloodied, but only a shallowly: only skin and muscle damaged, no bones or organs were touched thankfully. Easy to heal, even if the angel was paling beneath her. Minha felt drained by the time she healed that wound completely.

She wiped her brow, looking up at the fighting pit around her. It looked as if the fighting with the beasts had still continued, even after the king had shouted his pardon. All the kings guard were in there with them, making it such an easy fight odds wise. All the beasts were dead or dying. The angel's cousin was battling a grotesque looking Younger Toguro now.

Minha looked at Ayane, seeing a rather nasty set of gashes over her chest and torso. Another healer, one with teal blue hair was upon her, healing the wound before Minha could even consider doing that herself. Internally, Minha raged. She looked down at her gloves, able to heal with them on, but not able to bless or curse with them on. One man was at fault for them, at fault for the angel and her son almost dying.

She turned, looking over at Hiei, meeting his eyes. He frowned at her, but nodded his head. An image flashed in her mind, showing her that Sakyo was near the kennels where the demonic beasts had been stored before released. He was raging internally in his own right that both Hiei and the angel had managed to escape death again.

Minha looked to her right, seeing the opening where all the beasts had entered the fighting pit each time. She rose up and ran for it, hoping no one would notice. She managed to get to the kennel room undetected, stopping before the monster of man. He was alone, standing in front of one last kennel, speaking to the beast inside of it soothingly. A wyvern; stronger and deadlier than any of the other beasts released previously. It would likely kill a good number of those in the pit before it was stopped. Sakyo was paying her no mind, likely had not noticed her as he unlocked the cage with the wyvern in it. She silently snuck her gloves off and set them on the ground. Stealthily, she stole up behind him as he was speaking to the wyvern, telling it about all the meat awaiting its starving self in the fighting pits. He was waiting for them to think the fighting was all over and then loose it on them all, unless she stopped him first.

When she reached him, she did not hesitate. Her hands clamped down on his bare hand, cursing, "I bless you to get into that cage with the wyvern."

He turned around, striking her in the face with his free hand. The strike knocked her loose of him and onto the ground. Then, without another word, he waltzed his way into the cage, but without shutting it behind him. The wyvern was sniffing at him curiously. Minha was up and running to shove the door closed and locked it before either wyvern or Sakyo tried to escape.

"What are you doing?" he shouted at her, running for the the door.

Minha stumbled back away from the door and ran away from them, wishing she could block out the pained sounds of screaming coming from the cage.

She rushed passed Hiei who was standing inside the entry way, watching the cage with a ghost of a smile hanging on his lips.


	43. Chapter 43

Nanashi groaned in pain, waking up unwillingly. She lay on her stomach in her bedroom. She tried to push herself up on her arms, but they shook tremendously. She felt so uncomfortably hot. Her left wing felt aflame.

"Nanashi," a concerned, motherly voice smoothed near her. Asa. "What is it sweetness?"

"My... wing..." Nanashi groaned out. "It's burning."

Asa had been sitting next to her bedside, rising up on her feet in a hurry. "Lay back down," she requested.

Nanashi did so, smarting as her wing was jostled. She felt Asa's careful hands pull gently at the feathers of her wing. Even with the gentleness, Nanashi winced aloud. Asa turned and checked her right wing, which did not hurt at all to the touch.

"Infection," Asa stated. "I gave medicine while you slept though." She left Nanashi, heading towards the table that held her medicines. She rummaged through them. "Can you keep yourself awake? Long enough for your wind serpent to fight off the infection for you?" she rushed out. She was busy making up her own concoction that would help with the infection.

Nanashi pushed herself back up onto her elbows, even that effort cut a deep ache inside of her. Her head swooned. 'Can you?' she asked the wind serpent.

'I have been,' it answered. She noticed in her minds eye it was no longer a serpent, but a dragon. "The whole time.'

She paled at the thought, relaying that information back to Asa. "It has been..." she choked out dryly. She hung her head low down in the space between her arms.

Asa looked at her, wide eyed. She stepped over to Nanashi. "Drink, sweetness." Asa assisted her to raise her head up so she could drink the odd concoction. She choked on it.

While it did not taste bad, the drink mixed with overheated she felt made her gag. She felt Asa rub her lower back soothingly. She try to keep mind focused on that feeling. She fought but failed to keep herself conscious.

When she came to next, she was laying once more on her stomach, feeling a more comfortable temperature than she was the last time she was awake. She felt thirsty and hungry. She pushed her upper body up, freezing in the motion half way up. There was a significant amount of weight missing from her back. She turned around, reaching behind her, feeling nothing.

'Where are my wings?' she asked the wind dragon.

'I don't know, mistress,' it answered, just as nervous about the idea as she was.

She loosed a choked scream, trying not to realize what had happened. She heard the door of her room open right after that. She looked up to see Haruto rush into the room and to her on the bed. Asa was not far behind her. He sat with her on the bed, pulling her into his arms in a tight hug. He spoke soothingly to her, explaining what happened since she was last awake.

The queen had healed her wing, but there was a raging infection stuck inside. Even though both her wind dragon had been fighting at the infection and Asa had been giving her medicine, it was too virulent. The left wing had to be removed, or else the infection would spread into the rest of her body. Since the left wing had to be removed, the right one was removed also.

She choked, crying at all of that, hating how she was now grounded to the ground with everyone else. "Who made that decision?" she managed to ask.

"I did," Haruto told her. "I know what it's like to lose my own wings, so I insisted that only I could make the decision to take your wings away." She raised her head up, staring at him in utter disbelief. "You would have died otherwise," he explained.

Her ears felt like they were ringing. His touch lost all its comfort, only to make her cringe. "Get away from me," she breathed.

"Nanashi," he said her name gently.

"I said get away from me," she growled, shoving him away from her. It was a bit of a struggle as he did not want to let her go. "Get off!" She struck him full on across the face. She turned away from him, throwing herself back down onto the bed, face in the pillow.

"Nanashi," he whispered her name sweetly. His hand came to her lower back, but she recoiled away.

"Let her be," Asa told him.

"Stay with her," Haruto requested, voice cracking.

Nanashi felt his weight rise up off of the bed. Not long after that she felt weight of someone lighter settled down on the bed along side. Asa's gentle hand stroked her hair soothingly as waves of despair threatened to drown her.


	44. Chapter 44

Nanashi kept to herself for most of that week, not wanting to leave her rooms or be around hardly anyone who could her lack of wings now. The queen had new shirts and dresses made for her that cover her back completely now, but she hated them, hardly wanting to wear them. Asa had to convince her to wear them. Asa could not convince her to leave her rooms though, or to be willing to see Haruto at all for what he allowed to happen.

Yusuke got sick of her moping around after a few days though. He came barging into her room before breakfast that morning. "Get up," he told her gracelessly, waking her up.

She jumped awake, wind dragon coming around her neck ready to attack. "Yusuke?" she said sleepily.

"Get up. I'm bored hanging around the castle. Let's go for a walk," he insisted. She stared up at him, not quite keeping in time with his words. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

Even with how tired and melancholy she was, he kept insisting until she gave in. When she changed out of her pajamas into regular clothes in the bathroom though, she paused, having to put on a new shirt with no hole in the back. She held the shirt in hand, wanting to destroy it more than wear it. When Yusuke rapped his knuckles on the door, she hurried up, getting dressed. She kept her long black hair down though, letting it cover her back completely.

When she was ready, Yusuke caroled her out of her rooms and down to the main gate of the castle. When she realized they were leaving the grounds, she stopped him with a hand on his arm. "I'm not allowed to leave the castle grounds," she explained.

"Says who?" he asked as he resumed walking.

"The king," she mumbled.

"Same asshole who let that rich dead douche bag kidnap your boyfriend because he wanted a chance to kill you?" Yusuke asked, waltzing right passed the guards at the main gate of castle with a nod.

Nanashi followed after him, keeping her head down. The guards did look her over, but let her pass. She wondered if they need not recognize her without her wings. They were what people ever stared out when she arrived at the castle... The thought made her want to stop, but she feared losing Yusuke in the crowd that was forming in front of her. She jogged after him, coming into the outskirts of the city's market. "Wait, what did you say? About the rich... man?" she asked, worried about what he might tell her about Sakyo. She hoped he was dead. Otherwise she was about to convince Yusuke to help her find him and kill him.

"You didn't hear?" Yusuke ask. "I thought your wolfy stepmom would have at least told you that part of it." She shook her head as they kept walking. "Well, what was left of him, a lighter and blood covered shoe, was found in a cage with a wyvern at the fighting pit. Apparently he just locked himself in with it after we defeated all the other beasts. It ate him."

She stared at him in disbelief. She had not been watching where she was walking, making her walk into an older woman who was shopping. She apologized to the woman, before turning back to Yusuke. "What do you mean, it ate him?" She kept her attention better on walking with him as he lead her through the maze of the market and the city with ease. He knew it impressively well.

Yusuke shrugged. "It was hungry. Weird rumor that the queen did it, but your short stack boyfriend insists she was with him the whole time. That was all after you had passed out though. The queen actually jumped into the fighting pit to get to you to heal you. The dumbass little prince followed after her. Then the king and the queen's body guard. It was some crazy shit. Kurama saved the prince's life even from the chimera."

Nanashi felt a weird wave of relief wash over her. Sakyo was dead... yet. "What about his guard? The big one? Younger Toguro?" She felt a little worried about him coming after her for killing his older brother.

Yusuke gave her a cocky smile. "I took care of him. After you were hauled out the fighting. Pretty beastly himself. I was actually tasked as a mission to take care of him anyway. He and his brother had been tampering with demonic enhancements. My uh, well, my boss you could say, wanted them to be stopped. Sakyo, too. He was caught up in some shady shit, too. Kidnapping demons, enslaving them at best. I hadn't quite managed to finish that mission though." He was rambling.

"What are you talking about?" she pressed.

Yusuke clicked his teeth. "See, the problem is, I don't know how much I am allowed to you. I kind of already slipped up telling you I died and came back back in the arena." She frowned at him, completely puzzled. "A kid almost got ran over by a wagon, and I shoved him out of the way. Stupid kid. Look. I'll put it this way. You've got your boss in another dimension that stands apart from this world. The Great Hawk Spirit chick. I've got a boss who is something like her, but more on the childish side. I made a deal to get to come back to life that if I worked for my boss, doing a detective like job for two years at least, I could come back. I have to deal mostly with issues relating to demons and humans, once elves, misbehaving. There are some who want the demons moved to their own world because 'they are all dangerous.' Yet those blokes are the ones who frame demons for heinous crimes to make them look bad. It's complicated. I might have told you more again than I am supposed , too. But those rules are so dumb because your family, anyway. Besides, I'm retired now. Officially went through yesterday."

He stopped in front of a hole in the wall diner. She stared at it, not sure what made it special. She looked in the window through the door, seeing a young brunette woman stalking towards the door. She backed away from the door, apprehensive at the sight of this new angry woman.

"Yusuke!" the angry woman shouted at her cousin. She charged over to him, slapping him hard across the face. "Where in the world have you been?!"

"Dude, Keiko, chill out," Yusuke grumbled at the angry woman, rubbing his face where a red hand print was already forming.

"Chill out! Chill out!" Keiko shouted at him. "You begged me to let you go to the fighting pits while I ran the diner. Then come to find out from Kuwabara later that you two decided to jump in the ring with the fighter and that angel and two former pit fighters! All those demonic beasts! Not to mention you two brawling with and then killing that giant man-beast! Ugh!"

Nanashi took a few more steps back, watching the two of them. Yusuke actually dropped to his knees before her, groveling. "I know, I'm sorry, but my cousin and her boyfriend would have died if I we didn't."

"Kuwabara came home days ago! Why didn't you?!" Keiko snapped, hands on her hips. "You don't think your wife should know where you've been?!"

"Spending time with my cousin. And my uncle- sort of. My dad already skipped town days ago after he watched her get engage, but she's still worthwhile family," Yusuke explained. "Besides, the king is pretty grateful in all that his son is still alive."

Keiko scowled down at him, looking as if she did not want to believe him. She turned her gaze back to Nanashi. Nanashi gave her a shy smile. She reached for the wind dragon just in case. "Nice to meet you," she said politely to her. "You look hungry." Nanashi's stomach growled loudly in nonverbal response. She felt sure she had not properly eaten in over a week at least. Keiko chuckled at that, stepping over to Nanashi. "Come on, let's get you something to eat." Keiko led her into the empty diner, arm locked affectionately around hers. Yusuke followed them in at a distance.

Keiko sat her down at a four person table near the kitchen, ordering Yusuke into it to cook for them. As he did so, Keiko spoke to her, telling her about how she met Yusuke, rescued on one of his mission after being kidnapped by a thief. Then falling in love with from that, and joking that she hated him for it. That this diner was owned by her parents, but she mostly ran it now since they were older. How Yusuke, when he had not been working, helped them. How they had gotten married a month ago, even though he had not quite finished his mission against Sakyo and the Toguro brothers.

By the time that part of the conversation was finished, Yusuke was sitting with them, eating. Nanashi ran down what had been happening to her in her life since Yusuke had run away from his uncle's house. Talking about how her wings grew were the most difficult part, being that she was still grieving for losing them. Keiko managed to coax her to keep talking after that part, mostly by distracting her by getting her to talk about rescuing the prince and convincing the king to rescue Hiei, Kurama, and Yasha. She kept going until she had explained everything up the fighting pit drama.

"... and then I woke up, feeling hot and sweaty, my wing burning... Asa was with me. She gave me medicine for the infection, tried to get me to stay awake, but I couldn't. I woke up the next time around, and my wings were..." she choked on the last word she tried to say. "My father let it happen," she added darkly.

"Well, if he hadn't, you would've died," Yusuke pointed. "You know, I don't even think Keiko could be as pissed off as the king was about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Keiko asked him, prodding him in the ribs.

Nanashi put her spoon down, not wanting to finish her meal anymore. "The whole mess of them were arguing. Asa said the infection that healed inside of her by the queen was bad, that if they didn't remove her wing, the infection would continue to spread and kill her. The king refused to believe it. The queen said to wait longer, to see if her wind dragon could fend off the infection given more time. Haruto stood there mutely, saying becoming wingless was the second worst thing that had ever happened to him. Hiei was demanding they listen to Asa. Finally, Haruto decided to do that- Nanashi are you okay?"

Nanashi was staring down at her hands in her lap, feeling numb, but with a rising tide of depression threatening to rise up and drown her. She shook her head. "No..." she choked. The two of them kept silent around her, waiting for her to speak next. "How can I be an angel... without my wings...?" she asked.

Yusuke snorted. "The same way you always have been," he said nonchalantly. She blinked up at him. "It is in your blood. Your half angel, just cursed to look more like you're half demon. You didn't have wings for the first seventeen years of your life, but that doesn't change your genes, doesn't change who you are. You're still the same good spirited person you've always been, even with the sucky childhood we went through. You don't wings to be an angel, just like you don't need to be an angel to be a good person." She swallowed thickly, looking at him shyly. "One thing certainly has changed though..." he added, letting his sentence linger unfinished.

"What's that?" she asked, rising to the bait.

"You finally seem able to win a fucking fight," he commented with a grin. She laughed out loud at the ludicrous comment. "Taking out a pack of dire wolves and saving the prince. Killing one of the Toguro brothers. Not to mention that fucking thunderbird that threatened to flood the whole fighting pit with water and lightning."

She smiled in spite of herself at that. "Most of that was the wind dragon. It insisted I let it get struck by lightning to super charge it up in the sky so it could grow big enough to have an aerial battle with the thunderbird. I was just along for the ride." Inside her mind, the wind dragon was purring at her for her comments.

"Yeah, but your its mistress. It has to do whatever you say. Has to manipulate itself to your will. Form the weapons you want and stuff," he pointed out. He paused, staring at her with a pondering face.

"What is it?" she asked nervously.

"It is just weapons it can shape shift in?" he asked.

She shrugged and shook her head, relaying the question to the wind dragon. 'No,' it answered. 'Within the limits of your spirit energy, I could become anything you wish.'

"A fork," she said aloud to it. She felt Yusuke and Keiko looking at her curiously. The wind dragon rose up from her neck, forming a fork in her right hand. She laughed aloud at the sight of it. "It can do anything within the limits of my spirit energy," she answered Yusuke.

"What about a set a dragon wings?" he imagined. "Large enough for you to fly with?"

She gasped at him, blown away by the suggestion. 'It's worth the try, mistress,' the wind dragon purred within her mind. 'Once we've recovered though. You barely have enough energy to sustain me now since your fighting and infection. You must rest and recover.'

"It's possible," she said out loud, finding a spark of newfound determination surging through her. "I need some time to recover my energy though."

Yusuke smirked at her. "Tell you what, once you've recovered, I help kick your ass- I mean, train you until you reach that goal."

She gave him a small smile while Keiko gave him a pleased one. Keiko asked, "next time you disappear, you plan to tell me beforehand, right?"

Yusuke pushed his chair back standing. "Yeah, sure," he promised halfheartedly as he scratched the top of his head. He nodded over at Nanashi, asking, "hey, how much of this city have you seen since being here?"

She hummed under her breath, feeling slightly embarrassed. "The castle... and the fighting pit..." she answered.

"That's it?" he asked her, dumbstruck. She nodded awkwardly. "Get up. You got some sights to see."

He started swaggering towards the door before Nanashi even managed to stand up. Keiko called after him, "hey, what about the dishes?"

He stopped, turning around. "I cooked, you wash up. That's the deal we made. One cooks, the other cleans up."

Keiko stood her ground. "You can clean up as an apology for disappearing for days."

Yusuke stalked back over to the table, gathering up the dirty dishes. He carried them into the kitchen, grumbling, "I wasn't gone that long..."


	45. Chapter 45

Nanashi thought Yusuke's goal was to walk the legs off of her. He traipsed her all over the city, showing her anything he thought was worth her noting. She felt turned around in the maze of the streets, corners, alleys, and shops. Had the sun not started to set, she figured he would keep on leading her all over town. He did point her back to the way of the castle, but did not take her back there. He gave her a vague excuse of having to get back to Keiko, but she did not quite believe him. As she parted from him, she pondered about what might have been the real reason he did not take her all the way back.

She was so focused on keeping the castle in sight and trying to figure out Yusuke's departure that she skidded to a halt when a rock skipped across where she was heading. She watched it bounce and then roll lazily toward the curb to the left of her.

"Psst," she heard someone exhale to the right of her.

She looked over to her right, seeing a tall figure standing in a nearby alley way. He was in the shadows from chest up. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized who those white pants belonged to. "Jin," she breathed out.

He reached his hand out of the shadows, beckoning her towards him before slipping the rest of himself into the darkness within the alley. Hesitantly, she followed, reaching for her wind dragon just in case.

She stepped into the shadows, her eyes adjusting to the dimness, seeing Jin standing in his tall, confident glory. She was almost breathless at the sight of him. She felt slightly ashamed to feel her attraction to him brewing up after being dormant for so long. So much had happened the last time she had seen him, had been with him. She felt like just standing there was a betrayal to Hiei.

Jin closed the gap between them, pulling her over to him. He kissed her in a rush, claiming her mouth much to her surprise. She felt breathless by it. He leaned against her, half pushing, half guiding her so her back leaned against the cold, slightly slick stone wall of the alley way.

He pulled away from her mouth, and pressed his lips sweetly against her brow. "Great Mother, I've missed you..." he breathed.

"What happened to you? After?" she asked, looking up at him. The glint dancing in his eyes when he looked at her was not unlike the look Hiei would give her.

"After the lame excuse that the foals had to go up to a vacant stable for rest and training?" he preempted in a short tone. "I was discharged from the king's stables and service. I stayed on in the capital, working now at the head of the mayor's stables. He hardly has anything worthwhile in his stables though. Just two hippogriffs and a bunch of horses." At the mention of horses and hippogriffs, Nanashi did notice the faint smell of the stables on him. She liked it on him. It smelled familiar, reminding of him and his flirtation.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's not your fault," he said with an annoyed growl. He reached his hand out towards her face, brushing a few stray hair out of her face. "You've gotten much too slim," he commented gently. He hummed, before continuing. "I saw what happened in the fighting pit. The way you lost your wings-" he halted his words when he noticed her wince. "Guess you'll have to learn how to get along now as a four limb person like the rest of us." He turned his comment into a joke.

She laughed at his poor joke, mainly as at attempt to appease his feelings than anything else. "The wind dragon might be able to form a new set of sorts for me, once I have recovered," she explained longingly.

"The wind dragon now? I thought it was just a serpent?" he asked, hand tracing along the front of her neck. She felt both hot and cold at the same time when he did that. "That was the beast you rode, wasn't it?" His hand kept stroke the front of her neck and upper chest. She nodded. "You commanded something quite large," he whispered, "between your legs."

She felt herself go weak in the knees. His hand come firmly behind her head and neck. He bent down, kissing her anew. She kissed him back, trying not to think in the moment.

She pulled away, leaning back against the wall. He let her neck go. She asked, not looking up, "you saw everything then? In the fighting pits?" He had to have seen her and Hiei kiss. He just had to have.

"Yes," he said, tone sounding short, but not with her. "That pit fighter you rescued. I did see you with him," he added with a jealous tone. "You know at his height to you, if you squint enough, he almost could be mistaken for Jiro."

"He doesn't..." she almost said 'he doesn't look like Jiro.' She thought about it though, thinking about both Hiei and Jiro. They were of the same height, similar build. Yet Hiei was more muscular, where Jiro was slim and bookish. Their black hair did have similar sheens though.

"He doesn't what? Mean that much to you?" Jin pressed her.

Her mind jumped around, thoughts all jumbled up. She wanted to shake her head, but found she could not get herself to do so. She had not seen him since her wings were removed. Her mind wondered as to why that might be.

He bent down, kissing her anew with feverish intensity. His hands roamed over her breasts, petting her without inhibition.

He nuzzled his mouth up alongside her ear. "Leave the castle. Leave the king's service like me," he whispered the request. His hands roamed over her waist and hips. "Join me working for the mayor." His hand slipped lower, stroking between her legs. She gasped, grasping his shirt up by his shoulders. "I've missed you so much," he moaned breathily in her ear.

"I can't," she answered, feeling suddenly flushed. "I'm supposed to be king's guard..." she loosed the excuse. She was unsure if that would happen anymore though, with her wings removed. "The king wouldn't release me from that..." she breathed.

"Then run away with me," he said in rush. "We can leave the capital. We can go to Alaric. It's a half wild territory now that Lord Mukuro is on his death bed. No one will think to look for us there."

"I can't..." she panted, even though the idea sounded tempting. She could be free from the king, be with Jin, but at the cost of losing Hiei in it. She was still unsure where she stood with him...

Jin's hand reached to top of her pants, undoing the front of them. She whimpered, feeling suddenly exposed with him in this alley way. His hand slipped under her panties, rubbing over her mound again and again. "You miss this?" he questioned her.

She nodded without really thinking about it. "I don't think... I could get away... ah." She gasped as one of his fingers rubbed circles over her clit. She panted, hands tightening on his shirt. She willed herself not to moan loudly.

He kept talking as he touched her. "You can. We met early tomorrow morning, before dawn. Meet me by the East Gate of the castle, the one near the stables. We can make it. I know we could."

"I can't..." she whispered, leaning her head on the wall behind her.

He fingers slipped lower, two sliding inside of her. She gasped, unsure she should let him do that, but it felt much too good to stop him. She covered her mouth with her hand, willing herself not to cry out.

"You can. We can. Do it for me," he whispered in her ear. "Become mine." Nanashi felt a shudder run through her, feeling herself come by his hand. She leaned her head against his chest, using his chest to smother her whimpers now instead of her hand. "Tomorrow morning. Before dawn. The East Gate," he repeated. He took his hand out from her pants. He wiped his hand off on his own pants.

"Tomorrow..." she breathed against him. "East Gate... predawn..." she repeated, unsure if she would actually have the courage to carry it out with him. She felt lightheaded, like she had just been sucked into a whirlwind. She wondered about what she was doing, having not thought of Jin hardly and within ten minutes of seeing him, allowing him to kiss and touch her the way he just did.

She looked up at him, seeing him give her a smoldering smile that made her weak in the knees. His hands came around her jaw, kissing her passionately. He pressed against her, making her back lean against the stone wall behind her. She felt his swollen cock press against her hips.

She pulled her mouth away, face flushed. She was unsure if she should reciprocate. She wanted to, but felt like she should not. With shaking hands, she reached out to his pants, undoing the top of them. Her hands trembled so much, she could hardly grab him.

"You don't have to do that, if you don't want to," he breathed.

"I... I want to..." she said mousily.

She thought about the last time she was with. He told her he had wanted her mouth. She pulled him out of his pants, and bent down before him.

He stopped her as she knelt, grabbing her by the upper arm. "Pull down your pants instead," he pressed.

She looked up at him, shaking her head. She did not want him like that, not here in an exposed area, not now. He gave a nonverbal growl under his breath, but let her upper arm going. She knelt back down before him, resting on her knees. She put him in her mouth without looking up at him.

He sighed blissfully, bringing his hands to her hair. "Mmmm, you remembered." He stroked her hair, petting her as she moved her mouth over and over him. "A blow job," he breathed. "From an angel."

She paused, not sure what to make of his words. She kept going, taking more of him in her mouth. An angel. She was still an angel, wings or no wings. She gagged when she finished him unexpectedly. She pulled away from him, bringing the back of her hand to her mouth as she coughed and gagged, willing herself not to be sick on him.

He reached down, pulling her to stand up before him. He brought his hand up to the side of her face, tracing her lips with his thumbs. "Now where did you learn that?" he asked her coyly.

She thought the answer without voicing. Hiei. She had learned it from Hiei. She pulled away from Jin, head down and face flushed. She should not have done that. She should not have let him touch her like that. Yet she had no idea where she stood with Hiei... There was that kiss in the fighting pit, but she had not seen him since. She had broken it off with him after he came to her after she was engaged to Jiro.

Jin bent down, giving her a swift peck on her lips. "Where and when are we meeting?" Jin asked her, breaking her out of con-fuddled thoughts.

She answered, "tomorrow. Before dawn. The East Gate." Part of her wanted to go with him, but part of her wanted to stay behind.


	46. Chapter 46

The girl had been missing all morning and afternoon. So had her cousin, the detective. Hiei and Yasha went into the city to look for her. She had not been in the city before, beyond the fighting pits. The king had kept her caged up like a pet bird from when she arrived. He was far too over protective of her.

Hiei had found her in the evening, seeing her and her cousin parting ways. He watched her discreetly walking her way back to the castle, flitting from rooftop to rooftop. She was fine walking her way by herself. He considered flitting down to her, but decided to let her to herself. If something came up where she needed him, he could be by her side in an instant.

He regretted not going down to her when he had the chance. The king's former lead stable hand, the wind mage, her previous lover, coaxed her into an alley with him. It did not take him long to seduce her there, much to Hiei's displeasure. He looked at part of the scene through the girl's mind, how even though she carried on with him, she thought of Hiei, unsure if what she did with the wind mage was a betrayal. It was. The wind mage even tried to convince the girl to promise to run away with him tomorrow at dawn. The wind mage wanted to claim her as his. She was not. Hiei would make sure that would never happen.

Hiei debated interfering with them before they got too far, but that might drive her away from and into the arms of the wind mage. It would be tricky, but he made a plan instead to win her over to him and keep her from running off with the wind mage.

She parted from the wind mage, returning to the castle in the evening under Hiei's gaze. She hit a snag at the main gate though, with the guards there refusing her entrance. Hiei flitted into the grounds of the castle, watching the exchange between the girl and the guards unseen.

"Miss, the castle grounds are closed to the public," one of the guards said firmly, barring her way.

The girl looked up at the guard before her. "I'm not part of the public. I'm Nanashi. I've been living in the castle under the king's protection."

The two guards looked over at each other. They snickered at her. "Never heard that name before," one of them said.

"Please," she said shyly. "I was training to be king's guard. I was the one who rescued the prince from the direwolves."

One of the guards shook his head. "You're the angel?" he said disbelievingly. "Where's your wings?"

The other guard smacked him. "The angel lost her wings in the fighting pit, remember?"

The girl hung her head, going quiet.

"That's still not her," the first guard said. "Her hair is braided all the time. Your hair is down and is far too long to hers."

"She's also taller," the second guard commented.

The girl stared up at them, mouth gaping. "I am Nanashi. I am the angel. I saved the prince. I was once betrothed to Jiro."

The first guard stepped towards her with purpose. "Scram. Beat it," he told her.

She shook her head, standing her ground. She summoned up her wind dragon around her neck for a few seconds, just enough to show it off to them. The guards looked shocked at her, even as she shoved her way past them.

Hiei watched her go, intrigued and still annoyed at her about the wind mage. He would make her his. He would keep her from leaving the castle tomorrow morning as well.

He bidded his time, watching her mind intermittently in her mind until he had a chance to be alone with her. She went to her father, who had been with the wolf healer. He gave her privacy in those moments.

After that, she hid away from most people, only seeing her maids brief enough to ask for a private dinner to be brought to her and to tell the king she would speak to him tomorrow about what the Great Hawk Spirit had told her. That plan was good. He relayed her plan to the king, letting him know the girl was alright, back, and would speak with him tomorrow. The king was irked, but accepted those terms.

Once she was alone, he waited for a good moment to enter her room. He sensed his chance when she got into her shower. He entered her room, locking her door behind him. He sat down on her bed, waiting, fidgeting. He suddenly got up, leaning his sheathed sword against the far side of the head of her bed. The side she did not often sleep on. He took off his boots and set them next to it. He sat back down on her side of the bed, nearest her bathroom. He tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

When he heard her turn off the shower, he took a steeling breath and took on an air of calm. She would be coming out of her bathroom soon. Then he could speak with her.

She came out of the bathroom, naked. Her black hair was still damp, but freshly brushed. She saw him after a few seconds delay. She gasped, covering herself as she backed back into her bathroom. He swallowed thickly, not expecting her to back off like that.

She came back into her room slowly, a large and fluffy towel wrapped around her securely. She shut the bathroom door behind her, leaning against it. "Hello," she breathed. She avoided his eye contact. "What are you doing here?"

He smirked at her coyly. He noticed her face tinge pink. A small victory. "Where were you today?" he asked her.

She bit her lip, looking nervous. "I was with my cousin."

He raised his eyebrows up. "All day?" She nodded in a rush, still not looking at him. He ticked off points on his fingers. "You've been asleep, withdrawn, and then out with your cousin."

"Yes," she said. Her breathing was heavier than normal. She was either aroused and or nervous. He could play off both to get what he wanted.

He felt a foul taste in the back of his throat though. She was not being completely honest with him. He leaned forward on the bed, elbows resting on his knees. "Who else did you see?" he pressed.

"Um," she hummed. "I met my cousin wife. And other people milling around town."

She was still trying to mislead him. "Who else?" he huffed. "Who else?" he asked again. He stood up from the bed.

She clutched the towel around her chest. "How do you know I saw anyone else?" she asked shortly. Her eyes roamed over to his forehead, resting an astute gaze on the center. "We're you spying on me?" She paled.

"The king wanted to know where you were. He sent me after you rather one of his guards. Less conspicuous," he answered.

"So you were spying on me?" she grumbled. "How long did you watch?" She paused to gasp in horror. "How much did you watch?" One of her hands came up to her mouth, covering it with her fist.

He stepped towards her, coming only half way between the two of them before halting in his tracks. She had brought her hand down to the knob of the bathroom door. He had to pull back or he would have her spooked away completely.

"I thought you wanted me," he stated. He backed up, sitting back down on the bed.

"I..." she started. "I did," she thought out loud. "I do."

"Then why are you planning to run away with Jin?" he rushed out. She looked shocked at his words. The words tumbled out. "You wanted me. You came to me. You initiated. Later on in the fighting pits, you came to me to try to rescue me. And now you want to run away with someone else?"

"You..." she started, huffing under her breath. Her face and chest were flushed. "Don't spy on me anymore. Ever again."

"If you hate it here and want to run away with someone, run away with me. I'll go with you instead if that's what you really want," he stood back up, stepping closer to her, almost pressing up against her. Taking the risk, he brought his hands down to her hips.

"I..." she began. Her face, neck, and visible part of her chest blushed. She shook slightly. Her breathing deepened. "Sleep with me," she requested in a rush, eyes closed. She opened her eyes, but did not look at him. "That's what I want."

He stared at her, blinking. He had not expected her to be that forthright with him so abruptly. He backed away from her, bringing himself to sit down on the middle of the bed. "Come here," he told her, patting the bed beside him. "Lay down."

She tiptoed over to the bed, laying herself down on her back next to him. Her hands clutched the top of her towel where the knot was. She undid her towel, laying both ends down on either side of her.

He rose up, bringing himself over top of her. She gasped, pulling him down by the back of the neck to kiss her. She deepened the kiss in a rush. Her legs spread beneath out wide beneath him, making him groan. She wanted him, and he wanted to want her, too.

He steeled himself, kissing his way down her body. His hands roamed over her. If he was going to win her over from the wind mage, he would need to work for it. His reached her mound, working his mouth over her. She twitched, bringing one to cover her mouth, and one hand burrowed in his hair. He could tell she was hardly breathing, trying to hold back any noises from escaping her mouth.

He stopped abruptly, reaching up, and yanked her hand away from her face. "No, let your voice carry," he ordered.

He let her hand go with a shake and went back down to her mound, shoving his tongue inside of her. She panted deeply, but in a subdued manner. Her upper body twisted. Her hands grasped the towel beneath her. He had her, she was close. He kept teasing her relentlessly until she came, lower back arched.

He pulled away, sinking down to his knees before her, smirking. If he played his cards right, he could keep her entertained all night, and without having to fuck her.

He slipped his way up to lay next to her. "Did you miss me?" he purred in her ear. She nodded sleepily, smiling softly at him. She could be his, not the wind mage's if he played his cards right. "Did you miss this?" he preempted before straddling her anew, ready to carry on his plan.

She gasped noisily as he rolled his hips back and forth against her bare flesh. He reached down and brought her legs around hips. He resumed rubbing against her, turning them both on as he moved. She whimpered beneath him, hands gripping his black muscle shirt the way she had griped the wind mage's shirt a few hours prior.

'Mine,' he thought to himself.

He reached his hand down, slipping three fingers instead of her as he kept rocking his hips against hers. She looked down between them, seeing exactly what he was doing. She went from looking hopeful to less so. He hoped mimicking the sensation of him fucking her would be enough to sate her. Yet know he found himself hard and wanting her. She was so narrow though, being a part human. Add in he would have to either come inside of her or pull out. Risk pregnancy or deal with the mess afterwards. The thought of both made him cringe.

He rocked himself over and inside of her as she panted and squirmed beneath him. She moaned aloud, partially screaming when she came for him. He smirked down at her, liking her reaction. He sat up on his knees, bringing her legs down to the bed on either side of him.

"Like that?" he teased, running his hands over her, from her waist to her hips. She relaxed slightly at his caress.

She stared up at him, soft smile for him that reached her eyes, giving them a beautiful warm glow. She shook her head slightly up at him, biting her lower lip. She sat up before him, bringing her hands to his belts. As she undid them, he nodded, warning. "It will hurt," he warned her. She pulled his shirt up over his head. "A lot at first." She wanted him, but had not wanted the wind mage like this. If he took her tonight, it could make her his.

"I know," she answered. She undid his belts completely and his pants.

He growled under his breath. Cockily he add, "more than last time." He rolled off of her, stripping himself down. He rolled back over top of her, freezing before sliding himself inside of her.

Her hand came up to his chest, stroking it softly. "You don't have to pull out," she said permissively.

"I will anyway," he decided. He pushed her back down to the bed, lining himself to enter her. "Ready?"

She nodded. He shoved himself inside of her, halting himself half way when she loosed an unsavory scream. Her face was scrunched up. She held her breath.

"Breathe," he told her, afraid to move inside of her. She managed a few shallow breaths that were intermixed with whimpers. He began thrusting inside of her again, slowly and shallowly. She whined mousily. "Keep breathing, just relax."

He kept inside of her, raising his upper body over hers. He brought his hands down to her sides, stroking her sides between her ribs and hips, up and down over and over again. He felt her relax more around him. He kept moving inside of her, going slow enough and gentle enough for her to handle. Even then he could tell it was hurting her.

It was not going to be hard enough or deep enough of him though. He had not planned to voice it, but she could tell. She rested his hands on his wrists, stopping him from stroking her sides. "You usually go harder than this," she said with a pained voice. "With my mouth."

"You're hurting," he made the excuse.

She tightened her grip on his wrists. "Harder." She twisted her grip. "I'll get used to it. Used to you." She looked him dead in the eye when she said it. Her gripped tightened around his wrist so hard, that it felt like something snapped inside of him.

In a flash, he shook her hands off of his wrists. He took her wrists in his hands in turn, pinning them down by both sides of her head. He shoved himself deeper inside of her, even as she screamed in response. He thrust over and over again inside of her, even as she whimpered painfully beneath him. She even blinked out a tear or two intermittently.

"You're mine," he grunted down at her. Only her pained whimpers responded. "Not the king's," he panted. "Not Jiro's. Not-" he paused, not wanting to slip up and say the wind mage's name again. "Not- no one else's." He kept going harder and harder inside of her, in spite of the pain she was feeling. She told him to.

She pulled against his grip, trying in vain to free her hands. "Yes, Hiei," she groaned out.

He let her wrists go. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him. He felt close, trying to gauge when would be a good time to pull out of her. He pushed her off of him, pulling himself out of her. He was not quite ready to come himself. He sat up, bringing his hand over his cock.

He could tell she was looking up at him, but he would not meet her eye. She surprised him, pushing him unexpectedly onto his back. She pushed his hand away, replacing it with her mouth. He moaned loudly, not expecting her to do that. She hummed on him, finishing him unexpectedly.

She pulled her mouth off of him, laying her head against his thigh. He stroked her hair gruffly. She raised her head up to him, requesting softly, "will you stay the night?"

He smirked down at her, nodding. He was very well planning on it. If he stayed, he could ensure she did spirit herself away with the wind mage at dawn. He sat and stood up, pulling her up with him. She stumbled on her feet, wincing. Her hand came to rest on the front of her hips.

He tucked her into bed with him, pulling her close and holding onto her. Even after they fell asleep, he could still keep hold of her to keep her from getting away.

He slept hard beside her, harder than he anticipated. When he awoke, he did so with a start. He could see from her closed curtained window that grey light from streaming into the room onto the floor. He did not see the girl though. He sat up in panic, trying to sense for her. He heard the sink in her bathroom start running. He felt his panic melt away.

She came back into the room groggily, climbing back into the bed with him. He noticed her sneak a peak at the window and the door, staring at them both a little too long for his comfort. "Are you alright?" she asked. "You're sitting up."

He nodded, giving her a studying look. Here was a half angel, who could likely have any man, or woman, in the kingdom. Was once engaged to the most eligible royal in the kingdom. Yet she was in bed with him, wanted him. Insisted he sleep with her. A former pit fighter that was once on the run.

Without warning, he pushed her down onto her, straddling her. He kissed her demandingly, keeping her attention on him. Boldly, she snuck her hand down between, grabbing him and rubbing him up and down. He growled at her, staying her hand.

"You're not ready for that so suddenly, yet," he warned. He smirked down at her, slipping his fingers inside of her, with the goal to both stretch her out and turn her on for him. "Mine," he whispered. She nodded up at him.

He pulled his hand out, rubbing his cock against her. She snuck her hand down between them, shy look on her face. He sighed, nodding. She pushed him inside of her, even as she winced, face scrunched up. He took over the thrust, shoving himself deeper inside of her. She whimpered, but still nodded at him. She wrapped her legs around his lower back and her arms around his neck. He took her as slow as he could, but enough to where he could enjoy himself.

"You don't have to pull out," she strained out the whisper. "Asa," she said the wolf healers name. He stopped abruptly, looking down at her. "Oh," she mumbled, looking embarrassed. "No, I... I can get moon tea from from Asa... is all."

He shook his head down at her, entertained instead of annoyed with her mix up now. He continued moving inside of her, feeling himself close. He took her as gently as he could manage. When he felt on the edge, he slipped out of her, getting himself to come on her stomach instead of inside of her. She gasped when she felt it, pushing him up by the shoulders. She looked up at him in surprise.

He got off of her, going to the bathroom and fetching her hand towel next to her sink. He came back to her, starting to clean her off. Gently, she took the towel from him, completing the act herself thankfully.

'Mine,' he thought over at her. 'Only mine.'


	47. Chapter 47

Nanashi fell into a half dozing state, center hurting so good. She got Hiei to sleep with here, not once but twice. The pain was worth it. The pain was also less so the second time around. She would get used to him, she knew she would. She also would not let him get taken away from her, nor would she run away with him. There was need for that. She had no desire to leave the King Hayate's castle until after she relayed the Great Hawk Spirit's message to him.

Add in the fact that her father was here now, revealed to her. She had gone to him, in Asa's rooms, forgiving him, even as her throat constricted to do it. It was hard to dwell on that emotional re-connection with him. And to also why he and Asa seemed so close all of sudden. That was odd...

Her mind went from dwelling about that to dwelling on Jin. It was probably late enough in the morning by now that he realized she was not coming.

She shifted to thinking about how Hiei had known about her run in with him, had seen enough to know he asked her to run off with him. How Hiei had seen enough to know about that. She thought about what she did with Jin in compared with Hiei, half making her stomach twist in knots.

She did not open her eyes, but felt Hiei's arm wrapped around her as she lay on her side. He wanted her more... He made it clear last night, giving into her. She wondered if put in the same situation if Jin would give into her like that. Part of her doubted it.

She stayed still, even as she felt Hiei shift and mumble in his sleep. He sighed, nuzzling her bare shoulder. She was tempted to fall back asleep, but then a loud knock rapped on her door. She felt Hiei jump awake. She pretended to just wake up as well.

"Miss Nanashi," Midori's voice called from behind the door. She heard Midori try to open the door, but the knob just rattled. She could not remember if she locked her door or not last night.

"Just one of your maids," Hiei sighed softly, relaxing. "Send her away." He shifted on the bed.

"I'm fine Midori," she called out to her.

She saw the towel lay crumpled on the floor. She planned to sit up, go to the door in it, and crack the door just enough to let Midori see she was alright. However, she did not even manage to sit up in the bed. Hiei pushed her onto the bed on her back. She blinked up at him, seeing a predatory smirk etch across his face. He put a finger to his lips right before bringing his hand down between her legs. She gasped, then bit her lower lip and held her breath. She griped his wrist, annoyed yet aroused with him.

Midori rapped on the door once more. "My lady, you need to get up and dressed." Hiei kept at her, making her want to whimper at how sensitive she was. "The king wants to see you an hour after breakfast. He says it's urgent."

Hiei brought his mouth down on her exposed breast, sucking on the center. She clasped her hands over her mouth.

"My lady, did you hear me? Are you up?" Midori pressed. "Why's the door locked? I brought you breakfast."

Hiei paused briefly, whispering, "answer her." He kept touching her.

"Hiei," she breathed, not sure how or if she wanted to stop him. "I am up," she called out, trying not to let her voice squeak. "Leave it... the breakfast... I be there..." She felt a moan want to slip out, but she clamped her hands back down on her mouth.

"Yes, my lady," Midori answered. Nanashi sighed, thankful that it sounded like Midori was leaving. She felt so close, afraid Midori might hear her with Hiei. "Oh, my lady, do you know where Hiei is? The king was asking after him."

Hiei looked up at her, giving her an inquisitive look. He shifted his mouth to her untouched breast. She could not keep this up for much longer. "No," she called out to Midori. Hiei bit her, making her want to wince vocally. "Please go," she called out, trying not to let her voice sound strained.

"Yes, my lady," Midori replied.

Nanashi sighed, thankful that Midori left them. She felt Hiei's touch send her over the edge. She covered her mouth and refused to breath as she did so. He looked her over. "She's gone," he informed her. "One hour, huh?" He gripped her upper arms, rolling her on top of him. He then settled her down over top of him, hands resting on her hips. His cock was hard beneath her. "Once more?" he purred up at her.

She hesitated, feeling sore from last night and earlier in the morning. Yet here he was, wanting her without her having to ask him first. She brought her hand down between them, pushing him inside of her. She winced, but noticed it hurt less than last time. She felt so sore still, but felt less stretched out than last time, less pressure. She froze above him, unsure what to do.

"Move your hips," he instructed her, hands clutching her hips. "Only as deep as you can take." She moved her hips, slowly at first, feeling clumsy in her movements. She knew she should move faster for him though. She made an effort to do, panting hard, ignoring the ache it gave her. "That's it, girl, that's it," he moaned. His hands tightened on her hips with bruising force. She pushed herself to take more of him inside of her, in spite of how it hurt. "Oh fuck... Nishi..." he breathed.

He halted her, shoving her onto her back abruptly. She cried out, wincing as he took her at his own bruising pace. She almost felt like it hurt less and was possibly growing pleasurable. Possibly it could have just been she was so exhausted by him that she did not care anymore how it felt. She closed her eyes, laying beneath him submissively.

She jumped awake, feeling a rough tap on her thigh. "Wake up," he told her. "You managed to fall asleep," he smirked down at her. He grabbed her by the hands, pulling her up. He said one word, "shower."

Mercifully showering was all they did, with him more assisting her than anything else. After that, she went herself to fetch the breakfast Midori had brought her, feeling a bit taken aback with how much food was laden on the tray. Did she or someone else somehow know Hiei was with her or was the amount of meant to make up for the lack of food she missed in the past two weeks? She brought the tray in with her, sharing it with him anyway. She was surprised at how much she herself ate, feeling famished.

After they ate fast, Nanashi dressed in a fresh set of clothes and readied herself to see the king, making sure she braided her hair back in two braids this time. She noticed Hiei only put on his partially rumbled clothes from the night before. When she asked him if he wanted to go back to his room to change, he commented that the king would not mind.

They left the room together, leaving the tray of dirty dishes on her table, having no time left to take them to the kitchen. Hiei led her through the hallway towards the king's private meeting room since he had insisted he go with her to meet the king at breakfast. Nanashi stumbled up next to him, taking his hand in hers. They walked on a while, but then he stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?" she asked, stopping with him even though she was now late to seeing the king. She could not sense anyone near them in the hallway, figuring that was what he was doing as well.

"If we decide now to run away, what would we do?" he asked, not looking up at her.

She gave an awkward laugh. "What do you mean?"

He took a steadying breath. "Would you wed me if we did? Or even if we didn't?"

She laughed at him, chuckling softly. She whirled herself around him, taking him by both hands. She stopped laughing when she saw his somber face. "Of course I would. Will," she murmured. "Delightedly." She bent down, kissing him softly. "Come on," she preempted, leading him now down the hallway.

She had not wanted to drop hands when they reached the king's private meeting room, but Hiei had slipped his hand out of hers at the door. "Let me tell the king," he brokered with her. She nodded her head, smiling softly.

He let her into the room first, following right after her. The king sat at his council table next to the queen. Kurama, much to Nanashi's surprise stood over them, showing them a series of different papers. He was speaking softly to them. All three of them looked up when the two of them walked in the room. King Hayate was quick to shove the papers to Kurama, who looked flustered by that. Hiei shut the door behind them, leaning against it confidently. He crossed his arms across his chest cockily.

Nanashi stepped forward towards the king, bowing her head to him as she moved to stand next to Kurama. "You wanted to see me, your grace?"

King Hayate looked up at her. He turned in his chair, shoving it away from the table. He gave Hiei a short look, but did not address him. He stood up, coming to stand towering over her. Kurama side stepped away from her, much to her dismay. "Where you all day yesterday?" he asked.

She held tight to what confidence she had. "I was with my cousin," she answered. "You sent Hiei to spy on me, didn't you?" She glanced back at Hiei before looking back at King Hayate. "He told you I was alright, didn't he?"

King Hayate looked over at Hiei once more leaning against the door. "I never got much of a report," he answered. Nanashi looked back at Hiei as well, seeing him shrug. "I will say I only meant to meet with her right now."

"He stays with me," she rushed out. She saw out of the corner of her eye Kurama looking over at Hiei inquisitively.

King Hayate narrowed his eyes down at her. "He stays with you, fine, but the three of us of do need to chat." He gestured towards to the table where Queen Minha sat.

Nanashi slid her way into the chair across the table from Queen Minha. "How are you feeling?" she asked, voice dripping with concern.

"Better," she answered. She looked over at King Hayate as he sat down at the head of the table.

The queen gave her an inquisitive look. "You still look rather tired."

Nanashi tried not to blush as she nodded. "I am yet."

"Still recovering," the queen determined. "When you've recovered, we can formalize your wedding."

Nanashi dared not risk looking back Hiei. "What wedding?" she asked.

"Your wedding to Jiro, of course," the queen answered confidently.

Nanashi blinked at her. "I called that off. I gave him his ring back."

The queen shook her head slowly. "You were exhausted and emotional. You weren't thinking straight. You can't call it off based on that."

"Well I am still feeling better, and I still don't want to marry him anymore," she replied.

"You need to marry," the queen pressed. "The prophecy over your mother states her descendants will start a dynasty. You will need to have a least one child to do that. It's best that you marry and best that you marry an elf."

Nanashi refused to let herself turn and look at Hiei, a half demon, half elf in his own right. "I will marry an elf, I can agree to that." The queen looked slightly relieved. "But not Jiro," she insisted, shaking her head. She thought about bringing up what she and Hiei had spoken about in the hallway, but kept her mouth shut. Hiei said he would broach the king about it. Better to leave it to him since he was in better favor right now with the king.

Queen Minha cast a look at King Hayate. "I think we can agree to that. You can give us a list of names in a bit."

King Hayate hissed under his breath. "That I can agree to." He turned to Nanashi, attracting her attention now. "My turn. Now, is high tell me you tell me the message from the Great Hawk Spirit for me."

Nanashi stared up at him, shaking her head. "No," she stated stubbornly.

"Angel," the king growled.

"No," she repeated. "I told you I would relay that message only if you saved him in the fighting pit-"

"Which I did," King Hayate retorted.

"Not when I asked you to," she responded. "You only waited until the queen and prince were at risk." She took a second to glance at Kurama standing near them. Maybe he had fallen into the king's favor now because he saved the prince...

King Hayate looked ready to come down on her, but Kurama stepped in. With a gentle hand, he turned her to look over at him. "The Great Hawk Spirit gave you this message for the king correct?"

"Yes," she said, blinking up at him.

"You serve her, do you not?" he asked.

"Yes, I mean, technically yes. Being that I am half angel from her realm," she replied.

"You served her in helping destroy the cape," he continued. She nodded. "She entrusted you with your own task this time: to relay her message to the king. How would she react if you set limits on what you will or will not share with the message's recipient?"

Nanashi stood there, mouth slightly open, agape. She wanted to swear at him, call him a traitor. Instead she turned back to King Hayate, thinking aloud, "since you've gotten to know Hiei, you've suspected something about him. Your suspicion is correct."

King Hayate sat up straighter in his chair, going pale. He looked over Queen Minha. "His suspicion is correct?" the queen pressed. Nanashi nodded. "Get Jiro," she said, looking back over at King Hayate.

King Hayate looked from Hiei to Kurama. "Kurama, could you please go find Jiro and bring him here immediately? Tell him it is urgent."

"Yes, your grace," Kurama answered.

Nanashi frowned, watching Kurama go immediately. She had not expected him to follow a king's order like that so obediently. She watched Hiei side step away from the door to let him go through it.

Suspiciously, she turned to back to the king and queen. "I don't want to speak with Jiro. I already called off the engagement."

Queen Minha gave her a curt smile. "It's not about you this time."

Kurama came back with Jiro behind him in such a surprising speed. The second Jiro saw Nanashi, he was quick to rush over to her. "Oh, my angel, I am so sorry." She rose up from her chair, backing away from him. "Your wings, your father, everything." He stopped right in front of her. He took one of her hands in his. She pulled away, not wanting to give the shorter man false hope.

"Back away Jiro," King Hayate said soothingly. "She still states the engagement is off." Jiro gave her a forlorn look, not unlike one Nanashi could have sworn she had seen before. "Please come over here. Stand where the queen and I can see you clearly."

Jiro gave Nanashi one more glance and then obeyed. Nanashi saw him from profile, long black hair braided back into one thick braid. He had a narrow, almost flat looking face. He was slim build, like most elves tended to be. He was a bit pale, too. Likely that was due to his propensity to be inside reading instead of out in the training yard.

"Hiei," King Hayate called over the him standing by the door still. "Come over here too, please. Next to Jiro."

Hiei gave him a confused frowned, but did as he was bid. "What is the suspicion you had? You've never actually bothered to share it with me."

Hiei came and stood next to Jiro, under the king and queen's studying gaze. "Same build," the king commented.

Nanashi frowned, thinking they did not as Hiei was stockier, more muscular. They were the same height though. She was unsure if they ever stood together or spent anytime together bar the destruction of the cape before. It was not like Jiro ever kept his contempt demons closeted.

"Exact same hair color," the queen commented. "You have to be correct in assumption. The angel does confirm it."

"Hiei, I know you don't know who your father was, but do you know anything about him?" King Hayate asked him.

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest, legs in a wide stance. "Hn," he grunted. "You know I don't know anything." He cast a glance at Nanashi. "And my mother was an in ice demoness who died soon after I was born."

"Ichiro," the king muttered over to the queen.

"He didn't like women," the queen responded.

"Hmm, more he much preferred men," he countered.

"You would know better. You did grow up together," she pointed out.

"Don't remind me," the king said, shuddering.

Hiei snapped his fingers, drawing the king and queen's attention back to him and Jiro. "Who's Ichiro? What's your suspicion?"

Jiro spoke up next. "My older brother. He's been gone for decades. Attacked... someone else important to him... ran off before King Hayate, his father," he nodded over at the king, "could bring him to justice. After he was missing for a year, he was declared dead and I was named my mother's heir in his place."

"You think I'm his son?" Hiei asked incredulously.

"You look like him, you're built like him, you even fight with the same intensity as him. The first time I saw you in the fighting pits, it gave me chills with how eerily similar you two were," King Hayate responded. "Your age fits into the time after he ran off. I didn't voice my suspicion though because I thought there was no way to prove it." He nodded over at Nanashi. "Until the Great Hawk Spirit's angel confirmed it."

Queen Minha commented, "half demon, half elf, royal blooded."

Nanashi watched Hiei, seeing him look dumbstruck, mouth slightly agape. "No," he shook his head. Without another word, he fled the room.

Nanashi watched him leave, worried. He had not even bothered to shut the door in his haste. She took a few steps to follow after him, but was halted with a hand on her upper arm. "No," Kurama said above her. "Leave him be for now. He'll return in his own time." She turned back to Kurama, leaning against him. "You two, I know," he scarcely breathed in her ear so only she could hear him.

"He can't be Ichiro's son," Jiro said, shattering the tension in the room. "He didn't- my brother found men more appealing than anything else. Fighting them, fu- being with them. Until he beat the shit out of that knight and- and ran off before he could face justice." Nanashi watched him, not sure if she had ever seen him so flustered, vocal, or angry.

"That's not unlike Hiei did," Queen Minha commented. "Only in Hiei's case he accidentally killed the man rather than forcing him upon him."

Nanashi felt her stomach turn, realizing what Jiro was dancing around when it came to discussing his lost brother.

"You have no proof," Jiro insisted. "Any elf in the city with black hair and short stature could make that claim just as well. Are you going to declare all of them his bastards as well just in case?"

King Hayate countered, "we do have proof. I suspected it and the angel confirmed it."

"Suspicion is not confirmation," Jiro growled. He looked over at Nanashi and then back to the king. "For all you know, she could be lying. You weren't able to get the message out of her mind while she slept-"

"What?" Nanashi cut in.

Jiro turned back to her. "While you were unconscious from your wing infection, we feared you would die. The king tried to read your memories to find out the message the Great Hawk Spirit gave you in case you died."

Nanashi scowled at the king disbelievingly. Kurama put a steadying hand on her shoulder, non-verbally warning her to stand down.

King Hayate responded, "it's true, and I'm sorry my angel. I wanted my message. I fear the rumors are true that anyone who speaks with the Great Hawk Spirit cannot just simply have their mind or memories read to see what was spoken about. Only those whom she speaks to can reveal what she told them." He turned back to Jiro. "She did. I suspected Hiei was Ichiro's child and the angel confirmed it. Demons age faster than we do, which is why he seems older than a full elf would be his age."

"She could be lying," Jiro insisted. "Out of spite against you, spite against me-"

"What do I have against you?" Nanashi asked him, trying to keep the pity out of her voice.

"Just that you prefer women and demons to actual elvish men," Jiro countered venomously.

Nanashi gasped, shocked at his words. King Hayate rose up, chastising, "keep your insults to yourself. What is is your really worried about?"

Jiro breathed deeply and swiftly. "If you decide he's really Ichiro's son, he would still be a bastard. A bastard cannot inherit any family claims nor titles."

King Hayate let loose a low chuckle. "You're worried about losing your title? You were named your mother's heir after your brother was declared dead. Be Hiei a bastard or not, which I highly suspect he is, he won't be allowed to usurp your lands or title, that I swear to you."

Nanashi studied Jiro, watching him in his irked state. "What else are you worried about?" she asked him softly.

She saw him dig into his pocket, pulling out the ring she had thrown at him. "What good's a title with no heir?" he grumbled.

Queen Minha spoke up, soothingly saying, "you're not that old yet. My angel, are you sure-"

The look on Nanashi's face must have silenced her. Nanashi puzzled through her mind while studying Jiro. "Ayane," she said aloud. "Ayane likes you." Jiro looked over at her, scowling in disbelief. "I think."

Jiro clicked his teeth at that, saying, "a low born... May I have your leave, your grace," he asked, not looking at anyone else.

"You may," King Hayate replied. "You may leave as well, Kurama. You may advise me later."

"Yes, your grace," Kurama answered. He gave Nanashi's hand an odd brush before leaving her side, almost pinching her. She took it as a warning to stay alert.

When the two men had left, the king sat back down. "Sit, my angel," he beckoned to Nanashi. Nanashi took a steadying breath, settling herself back down at the table across from the queen. "If you won't have the spare to the throne for your husband, then who will you have?" The queen pushed a piece of paper and a quill with ink in it towards her.

"Write the names and we will broach them for you," the queen explained. "Your father has said just as well as your uncle that you may make the choice."

Nanashi picked up the quill, holding it poised over the paper. Hiei had said he would go to the king first, so then she should not. Yet she was sitting before the king and queen, expecting names from her immediately. She suddenly wished Kurama was still in the room, or that Hiei was in her mind to advise her what to write.

'The circumstances have changed, write Hiei's name and be done with it,' the wind dragon advised her. 'He'll understand and when the king tells him you chose him when he cornered you for a name, he'll be glad for it.'

Nanashi put the quill to the paper, writing only Hiei's name. She pushed the paper back over to the queen. The queen pushed it back. "Two names, at the very least."

Nanashi paled, not sure what other name she should write. She could not imagine Hiei refusing her. She felt a shred of doubt creep up in her mind. What if he did refuse though, now he found out he was a high born bastard? What if he would refuse because she told the king she wanted to marry him first? What if the king would prefer someone else for Hiei now that his suspicion was confirmed?

She thought over and over in her mind. She had to write another name. It had to be a name that would make the king and queen prefer Hiei, but a name that if she was stuck with him, she would never be in total regret for it. She put pen to the paper, writing the second name that came to her mind. She pushed the paper back over to the queen.

The queen's eyes went wide and she frowned. The king took the paper, looking at it for himself. "No," he stated. "Put a third name." He pushed the paper and quill back to her.

She tucked her hands under the table and into her lap. "No," she resisted. "You said two, I gave you two. Two elvish men even."

"Jin is not an elf," the king stated.

She scowled up at him. "He is too. Half elf. Just as much an elf as Hiei is. You just don't favor him as you do Hiei."

"My angel," the king's voice warned.

"You said at least two names, and I gave you two names," she pointed out. "Do I have your leave to go as well, your grace?"

The queen spoke next, "if both men refuse you, then we chose for you."

She turned that over in her mind. Hiei would not refuse, he could not. Not after last night and the hallway... On the odd chance that he did though, Jin would not... It would end up being Jiro after all... That would be a bitter pill to swallow, but she would swallow it if it came to her. She looked up at the queen, nodding her assent.

"You may go, angel," the queen excused.

"Thank you, your grace," she said before she left.


	48. Chapter 48

It didn't take a lot of rutting around in the uncle's mind to figure out what the father had been like. Monstrous. Unhinged. Took joy out of manipulating and hurting others. Even just threatening them. The uncle had memories in abundance. The father's cruelty when he the two of them were alone. The uncle was so young and naive, but the father was old enough to know better. Saying things, making threats and picking fights and then saying the uncle made it up or misunderstood. The parents believed the father over the uncle as he was older and the intended heir and the uncle was bookish and timid. The thought that the book he read gave him ideas that led to no more than an overactive imagination.

The uncle felt trapped with parents who preferred the father and an older brother who threatened to kill his cat and mix its innards up in his food without him knowing about it. He had to rescue himself, to free himself from this imprisonment.

The uncle tricked the father into being caught at his games. The uncle lured the father to near the grandmother's office where she ran her castle as a high born lady. The uncle played a bit more victim than he felt, knowing it would tempt the father into to continuing his new taunts about hiding venomous spiders in his bedding.

Yet it was not the grandmother, but the grandfather who caught the father at his games. Angrily, he chastised and ordered the father away while the uncle hid behind the grandfather. It was the day that changed things. Not at first, taken only a few months. The grandfather's favor shifted to the uncle first. Either the grandfather or the grandfather's friends and servants spent more time around the uncle. It left the father to either risk being caught once more toying with the uncle or having to find more covert ways to taunt him.

The father had snuck one night into the uncle's bedroom soon after that, setting a pillow against the uncle's face until he awoke, scrambling. The father let the pillow off of the uncle's face, threatening to carry it out the next time if the uncle spent anymore time hovering around the grandfather and his like.

The uncle was less frightened now after feeling the peace under his father's protection. He went to the grandfather the next day, sharing with him and the grandmother what had happened the previous night. It did not take long for the father to be sent away to live with the king's family in the king's castle under the guise of fostering.

When the father was gone, it was like a whole new world for the uncle, no longer living in fear. He was able to move about the castle freer than he had ever been. He spent more time with the grandmother, learning things he never expected to learn. How to balance the castle's budget, how to run the household, going out to the people living in the town near the grandmother's castle and meeting with them, how to tax them, how to train with the soldiers, and how to protect them with loyalty and honor. He kept his mouth shut, but secretly dwelled in pride at what the grandfather and the grandmother were doing. They were training him to be the grandmother's heir instead of the father.

The father occasionally came back for brief visits home, but the uncle was kept at a distance from him and was moved to rooms closer to where the grandparents were, whereas the father was kept in a more distant room away from the rest of the family.

Then finally came the day the news that the father had attacked and raped one of the king's men and ran off before he could be forced to face justice. The same day the father was disowned by the grandparents and the uncle was named the grandmother's heir in his place. It was almost unheard of for a second child to inherit in place of a first child who was still alive. It filled the uncle with pride and arrogance.

Hiei had seen enough out of the uncle's memories to lack desire to look into other people's memories about the father. He kept away from the king's castle, not waiting those who had known the father to see if he cast himself a similar shadow. To see him as the son of a monster.

Over a week had passed as he hid away in the capital city from the king, the fox, the stranger, and even Nishi. Those looking for him were ridiculously easy to hide from. It made him re-eminence about his glory days as a bandit before being a pit fighter. Get the prize he wanted while avoiding any guards who could try to stop him.

He stayed near a certain person's home though: Yukina's. She lived in a well off suburb on the outskirts of the capital city with her odd human husband. He felt a certain jealousy and protectiveness over her. She was free from the knowledge of who the father was, what she was. He saw in her mind that she knew she was not a pure ice maiden, but had no clue that she was not wholly demon. She was free from the king's interests unlike he was. The king could never know about her, nor would she ever know who he was to her. She was going to stay in the dark about who he was, who the father was, and their connection with her as long as he could help it.

Watching over her was easy. Deciding what to next was harder. He missed the creature comforts of living in a castle, making him lack the desire to go back out into the wilderness like a bandit from his younger days. A soft bed, hot water, three meals a day, a training yard with able fighters to spar with. He missed Nishi, her beckoning him into her bed over and over again, hot with desire for him. That was before she knew what he was. Maybe now if he stayed away long enough, she would give in and wed the uncle.

In his watching, he saw a few kings guard come looking for him with the fox to Yukina's home. He growled at the sight of the fox stepping into his business. If the fox sensed him though, he did not give him away. Yukina and the oaf, her husband, were questioned, said they did not know where he was several times over, and finally the searchers left. Whether the fox knew or not if he had been nearby was uncertain. The fox did not reach out to him mentally and he did not reach out to the fox mentally.

Another evening of watching over Yukina had come. She was blissful in her ignorance, unfairly so. She deserved to be kept that way. Hiei watched her from the rooftop across the way in her apartment with the oaf that was in the middle of the building they lived in. He mused over the thought that perhaps he could one day have an apartment like that, in another city, or even another country like that. It was not as grand as living in the king's castle, but it was much more comfortable than sleeping on rooftops in the open air.

Hiei continued watching Yukina and the oaf, even as he sensed someone almost on par strength wise nearby on the ground below. He kept himself calm, trying to place the unknown's energy, knowing somewhere he had sensed it before. The unknown entered the building he was on top of, coming up the stairs. Who ever it was thought they were being so sneaky, making him want to laugh. With speed and grace, he made his way onto the roof's doorway's tiny rooftop, looming just above sight of the door when it would open. The unknown was about to be caught unawares instead.

Hiei hovered silently over the door, waiting for the unknown to open the door and come onto the rooftop. Yet the unknown stopped just beyond the closed door, not opening it. Hiei felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The air took on an electricity like the calm before a storm.

Then all hell seemed to break lose when an explosion ripped through the rooftop, destroying the door and the walls and tiny rooftop around it. The explosion was a split second from catching him off guard. He had just foresight to jump from his roost before the explosion violently threw him to the other side of the rooftop. He land on the ground hard, rolling uncontrollably until he hit the short wall that surrounded the edge of the rooftop with a resounding smack. He shook his head, trying to shake the dizziness and disorientation from it swiftly. His feet scrambled for purchase so that he could stand up and face the unknown, sword in hand.

He blinked, seeing the unknown that stood calmly before him was the bomber, blacked haired and face with a white mask. Even though the bomber stood calmly, Hiei could see several of the bombs of his own energy creation floated in the air around them both. Hiei stared forward, but watched out of the corners of his eyes at the bombs around him. Too many to evade properly, but possibly could be knocked into each other to with the proper footwork.

"You're still alive," the bomber commented.

"Could say the same of you," Hiei responded. The bombs floated listlessly in the air, but without any of them touching each other. So if they did come in contact, they could set each other off.

"I bombed the hell out the area around Younger Toguro, and then ran like hell away from him. So yes, I did survive," the bomber replied with a light tone. "I see your angel managed to get you back and keep you for a time safe under the king's protection." Hiei felt himself bristle internally at the mention of Nishi, but did not let his reaction show outwardly. "You ought to have stayed there." The bomber stepped closer. The bombs floated closer, but none of them came in contact with another. "Maybe I'll wait around for her, to repay her the favor for keeping you hidden away from me."

"What do you want?" Hiei asked in a dull, almost bored voice. Trigger a chain reaction, dodge the explosion, and cut the bomber down.

"I want your death," the bomber stated excitedly. "Sakyo didn't want it when his neglect of you as a prisoner nearly killed you. He pushed me to keep you alive, even though your death after keeping you alive for so long made it more desirable." He paused long enough to give a desirous sigh. "He had a displeasure watching death, even if he ordered it. He didn't want to see it, denied himself that pleasure. That connection. He did not understand that the bond between the murderer and the murdered is the strongest bond imaginable."

Hiei narrowed him eyes at the bomber, not letting the words shake him. "Certainly the bond between a mother and child is stronger," he scoffed.

"Maybe," the bomber replied, "if the mother were to kill the child."

Hiei was starting to think the father and the fake lord were a bit more decent than the bomber turned out to be. Hiei tightened his grip on his sword, ready to swing it. He charged forward at the nearest bomb floating in the air. He hit it with the flat edge of his sword, expecting a bat and ball reaction. He got it somewhat, but with a triggered reaction he had not anticipated. The bombs went off, exploding around him in vengeance. He still made the effort to cut down the bomber, but could not make it with the air around him smelling of gun powder and blood.

When the bombing finally paused, he stood shakily at the edge of what was left of the rooftop, back to Yukina's apartment. His clothes felt wet and sticky, but as far as he could tell, the wounds were not immediately fatal. It did make his stomach flip though to think this was not an opponent who could be taken down by sword alone.

The bomber stood in the center of the rooftop remains. "Still alive?" he asked, removing his mask. "Impressive. Most would be dead or dying by now." He sucked in air deeply, hair shifting from black to blonde as he did so. "Maybe another round will do?" he asked giddily.

Hiei gritted his teeth, debating how to best to manage that. Simply trying to dodge the bombs and set them off on each other did not work. He yanked his singed and bloodied cloak off, exposing his arms, right arm in particular. He needed more distance though. More distance and time for summoning.

The bomber did not give him more time though. The second rounds of bombs were up and coming. He jumped from the rooftop, hoping by the time he hit the ground and the bomber followed him would give him the few moments he needed.

Yet mid jump, at least one bomb caught him in the back, sending him from a downward trajectory to a sideways trajectory. He crashed through the window of the middle apartment, tumbling head over heels into its main room.

He grunted and groaned, struggling to right himself and get back on his feet. He right shin bulked at his weight, driving him back down to his knee. He heard two frightened voices, male and female behind him. He stared forward at the broken window, such a small hole to begin with. An explosion rocked the wall, rending the wall to make the hole bigger. It was big enough now for the bomber to comfortable jump from the previous rooftop to down into the middle apartment with them.

"Hiei, isn't that Hiei?" a mumble growl voice of a man echoed behind him. The oaf's voice. He was in Yukina's apartment, and so was the bomber.

"It is," Yukina's voice said. "But whose that?" Yukina came and knelt down beside him. "What's happened to you?"

"Keep your distance," Hiei growled at her, shoving her away from him. He felt the hellfire energy dance along his arm.

He kept his eyes trained on the bomber, keeping his face neutral so the bomber would not guess at Yukina's importance and connection to him.

The oaf's voice was incredulous. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but you've just destroyed out sitting room. You're going to pay for that!" He was flustered sounding, likely did not realize what the danger was with the bomber. More bombs floated in the air around the bomber.

Yukina seemed to pick up on it rather quickly though. "Kazuma," she said softly. "Can you see them?"

"See what?" the oaf asked.

Yukina told him, "back up. As far as you can."

"What, why?" he asked, but the sound of his feet scuffled back. Behind him, Hiei heard a crackle and then a flare of energy.

"And what are you going to do?" the bomber talked down to her.

Hiei felt her eyes weighing heavily on him, but he refused to even blink lest he stop looking over at the bomber. The bombs would rip her apart if the bomber willed it, rip all three of them apart. He shoved his sword down into the floor and pushed against it to help himself stand up. All his weight was on his left leg. He kept his left hand on his sword hilt to steady himself. He raised his right arm. Black hellfire danced along it, burning so good. Just a few more seconds.

He did not get them. A few bombs came at his sword, blasting along the blade and knocking it away from his grasp. It was a small wonder the blade was not destroyed in the process. The blasts drove him back down to his knee, smarting painfully as it made contact with the ground. His concentration had been broken in the process.

The bomber sauntered forward towards him. "You first. I've waited so long for it."

He tried again to concentrate, to force himself to get the dragon and kill the bomber before he could be killed. Rushing the process risked even his death though.

Then the temperature in the room plummeted. It went from cool and comfortable to beyond icy frozen in a second. Hiei took a deep breath at the shock of it. Being a fire demon-elf whose mother was an ice demoness made him impervious to the cold. He felt it, certainly, but was not hindered by it.

"Yuk- yu- Yukina," the oaf's voice rattled. He felt it and was certainly affected by it.

Yukina froze the room, even risking freezing her husband to death. Hiei risked a sideways glimpse at her. She stood, unblinking at the bomber. Her eyes glowed teal. Her face was set like a stone with a slight frown over it. She seemed frozen in time.

Hiei looked over at the bomber. The sudden cold was affecting him, worse than the oaf possibly being her target. He had his arms wrapped around his middle, shivering violently. His bombs even froze in mid air, covered in ice and floating listlessly around them. Two even bumped into each other, but nothing happened this time around.

Now was the time. Hiei redoubled his energy and concentration, feeling the hellfire blaze over his right arm. He had the dragon, ready to release it. "Black Dragon Hellfire!" he shouted from his knees.

Even on his knees, the attack was effective. The dragon went for the intended target and only the intended target: the bomber. All the bombs around him were set off around him by the sudden blast of heat. The dragon drove down on him, taking him with it out the gaping hole in the wall. They struck the wall of the opposite building, the same one with the destroyed rooftop. Flames and an explosion rocked the side of the building, but the dragon turned upwards at the last second to spare completely destroying it. When the dragon was gone, Hiei could see from his vantage point that all that remained of the bomber was a scorched shadow on the wall.

He sighed in relief, feeling his body quiver with exhaustion. The bomber was gone. The room was sudden a livable temperature again. He needed to get out of here now. He brought his hands down to the floor, pushing himself to get his left leg underneath him to support his weight. He stood up shakily, gnashing his teeth. He had to get out of here, even though he was not quite sure where. He started to move, dragging his right leg behind him as he made for where his sword lay abandoned.

He did not make it that far when he collapsed to the ground. He felt a strong hand come down on his shoulder, being the last thing he remembered.


	49. Chapter 49

"Someone tried to kill him, and you brought him here!" a shrill woman's voice echoed outside of the room.

Hiei awoke with a start at the sound of it... her. He looked around by the unfamiliar room. It was a small, unused bedroom by looks of it. He awoke on a narrow bed, the sheets had a faintly musty smell. He sat up slowly, feeling decades older than he was. His shirt was missing and his old black pants were half in tatters with dried blood stains and the faint smell of gun powder. His old boots lay at the side of the bed, looking worse for wear. His sword was there too.

He heard another voice, a lower mumbling voice answer the shrill woman, but he could not make out the words. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, stood up, laced up his boots, hooked his sword to his belt, and left the room.

As he walked, he heard. The shrill woman said, "so the other guy is dead, yes, but what if someone else comes after him? I don't want him here."

He reached a stairwell, walking down it with soft footfalls, making no sound. Another man's voice spoke. "If someone else comes after him, I can take care of them the way I did with Younger Toguro back in the fighting pit. Besides, once my cousin hears we have him, she'll be flying down here to get to him."

Hiei stopped at the base of the stairs. He could see a group of them, four of them, standing together in a restaurant kitchen through a cracked door. On the opposite side was a backdoor that led to the outside.

"Well then, just hail her then," the shrill woman suggested. "Or someone in the castle."

Hiei stepped through the door, saying, "don't."

The four of them turned around and faced him. He looked them over, Yukina, the oaf, the shrill woman, and the detective, the former detective anyway. He felt a sense of camaraderie with them spur up. In another life, it would be almost a complete set.

Yukina stepped over to him. "How are you feeling? You slept for quite a long time."

"Hibernated practically," the oaf added in. "You're heavier than you look. Lugged you first to my animal clinic down the road from our ruined apartment and then here."

He grunted under his breath, finding himself preferring the oaf when he was not talking. "Why an animal clinic?" he asked not the oaf, but Yukina.

Yukina hummed under her breath. "You were in pretty bad shape, even after I healed you. You had lost a lot of blood from your wounds. Kazuma works as a vet in the city. He managed a blood transfusion for you."

"Wasn't easy," the oaf said modestly with a shrug.

The detective cracked a smile. "What did you give him? Dog blood or horse blood?"

The detective and the oaf only found the joke worth a chuckle. The women and Hiei did not. Hiei could only imagine what the stranger would say if he heard that joke.

"You know that's not funny," the shrill woman said to him. "Or possible for that matter."

"We used my blood," Yukina said. "We're the same blood type."

Of course they were, he thought, but did not vocalize. "How convenient," he answered dryly. She did look a bit paler now that he thought about it.

"You could at least say thank you," the oaf grumbled. "Our apartment was destroyed when that demon came after you, blowing the outer wall of our apartment off the building. You would be dead if it wasn't for Yukina. She froze the room, healed you, and then gave you some of her blood."

He gave her a quick sincere look before turning back to the oaf. "He would have killed you after me if I hadn't killed him first. Ask the king. He'll pay for it, but go alone, by yourself."

"That's not a thank you," the shrill woman told him, staring daggers at him. She was not as intimidating as she was trying to make herself out to be.

Yukina looked back and forth between him and the shrill woman, like she was caught in the middle. Hiei bristled at the shrill woman, which was enough to make her loose a small whimper and step closer to the detective. Not even Nishi had been that easy to scare when he first met her.

He turned from the room, heading back towards the staircase. Instead of climbing it, he went through the backdoor.

"Wait," he heard Yukina calling after him.

He halted in the middle of the tiny backyard with a tall picket fence enclosing it. It could easily be jumped. Yet when he went to crouch down to jump, he felt someone wrap their arms around his upper arm, pulling him back. He looked back, growling at Yukina. She looked quite determined not to let him go.

"Stay back," she called over her shoulder to the backdoor where the other three stood. "Let me speak with him, alone," she pleaded.

"I don't think that's a good idea," the shrill woman countered.

The detective gave the two of them a studying look in the middle of the backyard. "If he was going to hurt her, he would have done so already. Come on," he considered. He started to pull the backdoor shut.

"Shes not safe with him-" the oaf started.

The detective waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, I get the feeling she'll be safe. I also get the feeling that he won't talk if we're listening in." With that, the door was shut between the two sets of them, three inside the building, and two in the backyard.

Yukina still held onto Hiei's upper arm. "Let go," he ordered her.

"I'll only let go if you promise not to run," she said, her grip loosening.

He grunted under his breath. "Fine," he agreed. She let go. He turned around, facing her. She was only slightly shorter than he was.

"Why did you run from the king's castle?" she asked him, giving him a both soft and curious gaze. "You had everything there from what I've heard. Friendship with the king, romance with the angel, work as a king's guard." When he did not answer, she kept asking questions. "Why were you near my apartment when Karasu came after you?" She stared him down, looking just slightly annoyed with him. "I can wait," she hinted.

"None of your business," he growled out impatiently. She did not need to know. It was for her own good.

"I think it became my business when my home was destroyed," she stated.

He studied her. She was gentle, gentler than would have been expected by a full blooded ice demoness. They were usually cold hearted, man hating women who isolated themselves from the rest of the world. That was hardly the vibe she was giving him in the moment.

"I..." he started. "I found something out. Something I had given up finding out a long time ago."

"Good news or bad news?" she asked gently.

He clicked his teeth. "Finally found out who was my father, and it turns out he was a monster, is that what you want to hear?"

He felt the temptation to turn around and jump the fence. She might have been able to freeze a room, but he felt like that was the extent of her powers. She did not look capable of successfully chasing after him. Even with her being an ice demoness from that all woman clan, she likely could have been just like the rest of them, conceived immaculately around the same time the father forced himself upon the mother. It was not a thought he wanted to dwell on. Yet just as well she could also be half elf, half demon like he was.

"Who was he?" she pressed, face aglow with honest concern.

He pondered before answering. She did not have to know the father was likely her father as well. "He was the king's cousin. Lord Jiro's elder brother. He was vicious from a young age. Committed a crime, and fled from the capital. The king suspected it of me from the time he first saw me in the fighting pits, but it was only when Nanashi received a message from the Great Hawk Spirit that confirmed it did the king let me know of his suspicion."

She blinked up at him. "Oh," she mouthed. "So... you're upset to find out you are part elvish... or royal... or-"

"It's who he was, not what he was," he interrupted her rudely. "How would you like to find out your the child of an honor-less man who took joy out of torturing those weaker than himself? Who abused others he saw beneath him. Whose parents had no choice but to disown him. A heinous man, a criminal."

She stared up at him, looking distraught for him rather than pitying him. "That would be terrible," she stated soothingly. She gave him, a small, commiserating smile that oddly put him at ease. "Imagine being an odd child of a heartless race who allows no one to show emotion of any kind expect for one tear shed on the day your daughter is born."

He kept his face stock still. She reached inside of her collar and pulled out a corded necklace. From within it, she produced the tear gem the mother had given her. It was a bit of a challenge to keep his breathing calm and controlled. His memories stretched far back, all the way to that day, when both of them had been born. Even the foggy memories from before being born. When he noticed his own heat and remembered her frigidness. He had been born first, but not given the tear gem shed for him until the day the mother's friend threw him off their floating island. He remembered being separated from the mother immediately as the women around her gasped and exclaimed in fear of him. Yet when Yukina was born, she was treated differently, as one of them. Given her tear gem on a necklace not unlike the one she wore on her neck now. He might have gotten his tear gem a few days later, but he lost it in one careless moment fighting another demon, using it to tempt the brute to fight him and make him stronger. He had searched for it again and again, even getting his Jagan Eye from the osteopath to aid him in his search for it and the ice maidens' floating island. He found them, pitied them, but never found his tear gem for all his searching.

"Why are you showing me that?" he asked, pretending not to know what it was, even as the sight of it filled him with a peaceful sense of calm. He resisted the temptation to reach out and snatch it from her.

"The one tear my mother was allowed to shed when I was born," she explained. She tucked it back down under her collar. "The one time she was allowed to show emotion without being shamed for it." Her face darkened as she continued. "Yet when my brother was thrown from the island to his death, she continued to cry and plead for him, embracing emotions until the overwhelming sense of them drove her to take her own life. The other ice maidens were ashamed of her behavior. When I found out about him, I refused to be like those wretched women. I left them behind and have been seeking my brother ever since. My mother's friend says he had a chance of surviving the fall and I would know who he was because he would be able to show me his matching tear gem."

"He's likely dead," Hiei told her, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice.

She shook her head. "I don't think he is. I think I would know. Someone who can blaze that hot in the womb would not die that easily, even as a newborn. I'll find him one day, I'm sure of it." He did not like her confidence in that statement. "As for you and your father and me and my people. You can't control who are born to, but you can control who you become. You don't have to become a monster, as you put it, like your father, just as I don't have to become heartless like my people."

"Hn," he grunted at her, mulling over her words.

"You ought to go back to the castle, but only when you're ready," she said. "You can stay with Kazuma and I, although for the time being we're actually staying with Yusuke and Keiko considering the fact that our apartment is still a mess of rubble. I suppose Keiko will need some convincing though..." He shook his head, not sure about what to say to her with that offer. "Then where will you go? Back to the castle?" her voice sounded hopeful at her questions.

He shrugged. "Perhaps," he stated. He still wanted to think over her words and her story.

"Come back inside with me then," she said, stepping over to him and taking him by the hand.

She tugged at him, pulling him reticently towards the building behind her. He followed her, making her take him with her at the very least. She held firmly to his hand and forearm with both of her small, delicate hands. She looked genuinely glad to bring him along with her.


	50. Chapter 50

Hiei stayed with the four of them for the night. The shrill woman was a bit standoffish with him, even as the detective teased her for it. It was a good sense of camaraderie, even as he kept on the outskirts of the the two other young men. Watching them was boasting to each other was entertaining. Even when they had a scuffle after the detective defeated the oaf at arm wrestling. He felt confident he would be able to defeat both of them it he was at his full strength.

When the night got late, he stayed the night in the small room he had awoken in earlier. He slept peacefully, waking early at the noise of the detective and the shrill women getting up early and getting ready to open their restaurant. He went downstairs, seeing that Yukina and the oaf were with them as well. He watched them curiously before going out to the larger dining room and settling himself down in one of the many empty chairs.

He pulled his sword out of its sheath, looking it over. He had nothing to clean, polish, or sharpen it with. It had charred marks pocked over the blade that would take some time to get out. He would need some oil and a rag at the very least. He growled quietly to himself, knowing he could get the oil and rag he needed from the castle. He could get a lot of things from the castle. Things he wanted, things he needed.

The realization that he wanted to go back dawned on him. He wanted to go back to the castle, to the uncle, to the king, and especially to Nishi. He jumped up, sheathing his sword. He headed for the door of the restaurant.

"Hey, where are you going?" the detective's voice called out from the kitchen.

"Home," he called back without looking back.

He left the restaurant, hearing the detective chasing behind him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he rushed. The detective came up to him, cutting in front of him in the middle of the street. "And where exactly is that?"

"Hn," Hiei grunted up at him. "Where I please," he challenged, trying to step around the detective.

The detective side stepped to stay in his way. "That would be the castle right?" he asked in a leading voice. "Back to my cousin?"

Hiei gave him a brief study. He looked ready for a fight if he had to do it. Likely he would do it if he thought Hiei was not going back to the castle. He still felt weak from his fight and blood loss on account of the bomber, but the detective could be a worthwhile opponent. Egging him on would be a way to get at that.

"What do you care?" he said with a shrug.

"Because I know you've fucked my cousin and then asked her to marry you," the detective snarled down at her.

Hiei felt a bit taken aback by the brash statement, but did not let it show on his face. The detective was going to be so easy to coax into a fight. "What if I don't want to go back?"

The detective answered that with his fist. He clocked Hiei in the jaw, making him stagger a little unexpectedly. He was not holding back, would not hold back in a fight over this. Hiei kept the smirk off his face when he goaded, "that's all?"

The detective did not stop there, engaging Hiei in one of the best spars he had been in a while. The detective wailed on him, punching and punching. It took Hiei's wherewithal to block and counter most of the strikes. The detective was vengeful, wanting to subdue him and get him to agree to go back to the castle.

Had Hiei been at full strength, he was confident he would have won. Yet being weakened by the bomber lead to him being at a disadvantage against the detective. The passersby on the street kept their distance. Both of them turned a deaf ear to the shrill woman yelling at them to stop fighting or else. The detective straggled him into a head lock in the street.

"Say you're going back and I'll let go," the detective wheezed out. At least he was winded, too. At that, Hiei laughed, giving in. "What the hell is so funny?" the detective asked, loosening his grip.

Hiei gave him the slip when he sensed the chance. "I was always planning on going back," he panted. "You know, it's not a fair fight and doesn't count as win if your opponent is weakened by an outside force."

The detective clicked his teeth, punching him in the shoulder jovially. "Yeah, whatever. If you are that sure of yourself, come find me after you've finished licking your wounds." The detective looked down at him, crossing his arms over his chest. "You really are going back?" he asked heavily.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"To her?" the detective pressed.

"Yes," Hiei agreed. That, and all the drama that would come with it...

The detective gave him another punch in the shoulder, a little harder than the last one. "You fucking better. I'll beat some sense into you if you are lying."

Hiei chuckled under his breath. At full strength, he would have the detective on his knees before he knew it.

"And tell the king you promised he would pay to repair Kuwabara's apartment," the detective pressed. "Come inside first though, take some food back with you to help appease those you ditched."

The detective fitted himself with a small bag of supplies while the oaf and Yukina watched on. When the detective asked after the shrill woman, they said she was angry about the two of them fighting and stormed off.

"She'll be back," the detective said, shrugging it off. "She's has a temper, but doesn't stay angry for long."

The detective was shooing him out the door when the shrill woman came back through the door. She was not alone. The uncle stood next to her with two king's soldiers whom Hiei did not know next to him.

"Did you turn him in?" the detective asked, short with her.

"Don't take that tone with me," the shrill woman told him. "Not after you two were fighting like two hooligans in the street."

"Awe, come on, that was just a friendly spar. I knew he was planning on going back the whole time," the detective grumbled.

How a woman like that could cow a man like that was beyond Hiei's comprehension. He would never let Nishi have such sway over him.

"You were fighting?" the uncle said to Hiei. He had a tone of an adult chastising a child, which irked Hiei.

"Maybe I'll stay after all," Hiei suggested sarcastically up to the detective. The nervous look on the shrill woman's face made him smirk. "Let's go, uncle," he said, taking his leave of the restaurant once more.

"Uncle? What's in that bag?" the shrill woman called after him.

"Just some stuff I gave him," the detective explained for him.

"What stuff you gave him?" the shrill woman asked.

Their voices went muffled as Hiei left the restaurant, wondering when the next time he would see it would be. the shrill woman might be shrill, but she certainly had a talent for cooking.

He walked in front of the uncle and two guards at a brisk pace. the uncle huffed next up to jog next to him. "Where have you been?" he puffed out in a superior tone. Hiei could not help but think that superior attitude was instilled in him by the grandfather.

"Around," he answered smugly.

"We've, the king's men, the angel, Kurama, and Yasha have been looking all over for you in the city and the outskirts. The prince even snuck out once to try to find you," the uncle puffed.

"You found me," he said with a shrug. He quickened his stepped, trying not show how it amused him to see the haughty uncle try to keep up with him. Even weaker than usual, he was able to out strip the uncle.

"Found you brawling in the street with some other fool. You look like that wasn't the first fight you've been in either," the uncle grumbled. "Please don't tell me you had anything to do with those two buildings that were half destroyed and charred a few blocks away from here?" Hiei clicked his teeth, not answering. "What does the angel even see in you?" he grumbled to himself.

"I call her by her name as she pleases for one thing," Hiei bit back.

"She is half a creature from another realm of existence, so addressing her as such is a great honor," the uncle chastised. "Her father was rendered human after that warlock took his wings, but she was not."

"True. If she were fully human, you would have no interest in her," Hiei pointed out. "You only like her for who her father was, rather than who she is."

The uncle only answered with a series of incoherent grumbles under his breath. Hiei felt like he had enough of walking with him. He was going to head back to the castle anyway. Without warning, he took off from the uncle and the two king's men behind them. He heard the uncle call and run after him, but the poor fool was so slow that he had no hope to catch up with him.

He made it back to the castle himself, feeling slightly and unnaturally winded. It was mid morning. He jumped the wall in the back where he knew no one would be around. He landed softly on the other side of the grounds by a set of bushes. He sensed around the castle, wondering where Nishi was. He sensed her in the grounds at the training grounds. Perfect. He slipped his way over to that area covertly. A leafy tree near the training area made for the perfect hiding spot.

He watched from a distance as she was with the fox, standing hunched over. Her hands rested on her knees and she was dripping with sweat. The fox looked a little worn out himself, but not nearly to the extent she did. The keeper- her father, and the stranger sat on a bench in the shade of the castle, watching intently.

"Again," the fox demanded.

"I can't," she hissed out. He noticed she was wearing a shirt with her upper back exposed. She had refused to wear one of those ever since her wings were removed. Her hair was also braided in two braids that hung draped down across her shoulders.

"Again," the fox demanded.

Nishi groaned in annoyance. She rose up to stand rigid and straight backed. She panted, arms half raised and flexed. Her wind dragon coiled around her neck and crawled down her upper back. She panted noisily in exertion. The wind dragon disappeared under the flesh of her exposed back. Whatever she was trying to do, she wanted to do it desperately. He watched as not one, but two semi transparent white coils appeared out of her back. Wings. Dragon-like wings. They grew larger on her back, unfolding behind her back. She screamed out loud in desperation to keep the wings up on her back. She shook visibly. The wings disappeared from her back and she collapsed to her hands and knees.

"Damn it," she swore in vivid annoyance with herself. "I had it, I had it..."

"It was brilliant," the keeper called over to her. "Make them that big again and you'll be able to fly."

"I couldn't sustain them..." she panted out. "... that big."

"Not yet, sweetness," the keeper encouraged. "Soon though. You are getting stronger."

"You know what would really make her stronger?" the stranger suggested. "Expose her to more demons. She'll never get stronger only exposed to Kurama."

"No," the keeper growled protectively. The fox stayed silent, but looked equally annoyed at the suggestion.

"Look, you said it yourself the elemental serpents or dragons or what have you get stronger and their hosts get stronger when they're exposed to demons. Like goldfish who get bigger depending on their habitat. The bigger the habitat, the bigger the goldfish. The more demons around her, the stronger she will become," the stranger challenged. "Lord Mukuro is growing old, says his time is near. He has no heir to Alaric and told the king to send him someone strong to see if they are up to snuff to be his heir. Alaric has the largest population of demons in the kingdom. If Nanashi goes there and becomes his heir, she'll be able to conjure up her own set of dragon wings in no time."

"She could die in the process. The last two people who tried to become his heir died in the process," the keeper argued.

"I'm not going anywhere," she rushed out. She sat herself up on her knees. "Not until..."

There was a tense silence around the area. "He'll come back," the fox soothed.

"When?" she asked shortly.

The fox shook his head. "When he's ready."

"He once nearly lost a match in the fighting pit, disappeared for a few days in the angst of it all," the stranger said with a laugh. "At least now we know where he gets it."

"It's been more than a few days," she grumbled.

The fox's eyes flicked over where Hiei had been hiding to watch the scene. It was like the fox was staring right at him, like he knew he was there the whole time. He probably had known he had been there the whole time. He looked at Nishi and then back over to where Hiei was. He nodded.

Hiei jumped out his hiding place, stepping out into the open where the four of them could see them. He walked over to them, passing the bag the detective had given him to the stranger sitting on the bench.

Nishi stared at him, wide eyed. She rose up to stand. She stepped over to him, moving her lips without any sound coming out. She closed the distance between, slapping him unexpectedly across the face. "Where were you?" she demanded. She went to slap him again, but he deflected it. She punched him in the shoulder. She surprised him by shoving him back. She was trying to start a fight with him.

She followed after him as he backed away, hands raised up. When she was close enough, he snatched up her hands, holding them before she could use them against him. "I can explain," he preempted, feeling suddenly and unnaturally nervous.

"You two should probably take your fight somewhere private," the stranger interrupted. "The minute the king hears he's back, he'll be wanting his own turn to slap him across the face."

Nishi turned to look back at him, giving him a scowl in turn. "Where were you?" she demanded to know. She struggled to tug her hands out from his grip. She stood before him, clearly not amused.

"The crypts are unoccupied right now, so there's no one to tell the king you are down there. No one alive anyway," the stranger commented around them. He jerked his head to the door on the left. "Just over there."

The crypts, where all the bones of the dead kings and queens were buried. His ancestors. He stepped his way towards the door, opening it with a loud creak. He went down there, eyes adjusting quickly to the torchlight down there. He heard and saw her follow him down the stairs.

Once they reached flat ground, she asked, "where were you?" Her voice had a hint of bite in it still.

He leaned against one of the walls. Where to begin... "It's a long story," he preambled.

"Then start at the beginning," she demanded.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Before I was born..." he started. She stood there, listening to him intently. Eventually she interrupted him only once, but only to ask if he minded she sit down since she was exhausted from her training in the morning. His voice grew a little hoarse by the time he was done explaining.

"You were with my cousin overnight, and he did not bother to tell me?" she asked when he had finished.

"His shrill wife wanted to, and she eventually did after she failed to break up our spar," he explained.

"And your sister," she mumbled, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.

"You can't tell anyone who she really is, not even the king," he rushed out. "Let her stay free of knowing all that."

She nodded in agreement, "okay." She rolled up onto her feet, stepping gingerly over to him. She bent down, kissing him in a desperate feeling rush. "Still mad," she warned him. He did not like her telling him that, nor the sinking feeling in his stomach it gave him. "You warn me next time you want to disappear," she ran her hand over his headband, "you check in with me, no matter how long you're gone."

He nodded up at her, meaning it. She kissed him anew, even risking pulling him down to the ground with her. "Not here," he breathed against her neck.

"We'll never reach my rooms before someone tips off the king you're back," she argued.

He looked back at the crypts down the hall behind them, and back at her, shaking his head. "It's disrespectful," he countered.

She looked flustered with him, slipping away from him. "Disappearing for so many days is disrespectful," she grumbled, standing up. She left him down in the crypts, stomping up the stairs as she went. She would come around, he hoped to himself.

He went up the stairs after her at a jog. When he left the crypt, he saw her standing in the yard with the fox, the stranger, and the keeper. The uncle was also there with his two guards. The worst of it was seeing the king moving swiftly up from behind them, his eyes locked on Hiei. He swore under his breath at the sight of him.

"Where have you been?" the king demanded, rounding on him. He was worse than the uncle had been. "You can't just run off like that."

"I came back," he pointed out.

The king held his hands out to Hiei. Hiei clicked his teeth in distaste. The king wanted to read his memories. He figured this would be a faster way to get the conversation over. He put his hand in the kings, letting the king hold his hand in his two hands none too gently. He let his memories from when he left be read by the king, keeping the thought of who Yukina really was to him a suppressed secret.

"What does that Yukina mean to you?" the king asked him.

Hiei mulled over what to answer. "Was easy to steal from when I needed something."

The uncle groaned in annoyance, "brawling in the streets, stealing from friends of the angel, this is my newly discovered nephew."

"Leave him be," Nishi chided the uncle.

"Hiei, can I talk to you privately," the king asked politely.

Hiei knew that even though the request was formal, he did not have much of a choice in allowing it. He followed the king out of the yard in silence and all the way to his presence chamber. The king sat down first, followed by Hiei in the seat next to his.

"What do you want?" Hiei griped at him.

"It's what the angel wants," the king started explaining. "She says you proposed and she accepted it."

"We talked about it before we last met with you," Hiei answered him.

"The queen and I have taken over match making for her as she agreed to it for saving your life, her life, and the lives of those in the fighting pits. She also indicated to myself and the queen that you were one of the men on her list to marry," the king explained.

"List?" he asked, wondering what he meant.

"We had her write names of elvish men she was willing to marry. She needs to have at least one child to carry out the prophecy made over her mother, and I would prefer it was done in marriage to an elf," the king kept rambling.

"Where's that list?" Hiei pressed.

"She only wrote two names. The queen had it burned later," the king answered, looking out of place amused.

"Who else's name was on that list?" Hiei pressed.

"Don't worry about it," the king soothed, a little amused. "You are the only viable name for her. The queen and I want you to be with her. There's just one thing you would need to agree to for all of us to make that work."

"What?" Hiei asked, bidding his time to try and read the king's mind or the queen's mind for that other name.

"A daughter," the king said simply.

"A what?" Hiei frowned, puzzled at that turn of suggestion.

"A daughter. With angel blood. Born within the next two years, so she would age fast enough with being part human to be able to wed Prince Takashi when she comes of age."

Hiei stared up at him, not sure how to to react to him. "You're bargaining with the engagement of an unborn child."

"If you agree, the angel is yours to wed, and I'll even look at getting your own lands up in the north. Alaric is in need of a new lord soon. You would have to fight to earn that though as Lord Mukuro has told me to send him a potential heir to his territory in the north," the king explained. "I can help you with all of that so long as you agree to what the queen and I want."

Hiei found it an absurd offer. "And what if we did not have a daughter in that two year window?"

"Then you are not beholden to your promise," the king conceded.

He could have Nishi and a crack at a lordship, but at the cost of trying to have a daughter. A daughter they might never have. He would just have to make sure he did not get her pregnant, at the very least for a daughter in the next fifteen months. Then the bargain would be for nothing on the king's part and he would get everything on his side of the deal. There was nothing much holding him to the deal anyway.

"Agreed," he conceded, keeping his face neutral.

The king smirked though, amusement all over his face. He rose up, going to the bookshelf that held a bunch of papers and documents. Hiei watched him ruffle through them. He pulled one out, carrying it carefully over to the table. When he sat it on the table for Hiei got a chance to look it over. It was a treaty that contained exactly the agreement they had made: Hiei, or any man who signed it could marry Nishi with the king and queen's blessing so long as they agreed to try to have a daughter within the next two years that could be wed to the prince. He would have to sign it. They would have to sign it. He wanted to bulk at that.

The king ready for it though. "She ought to be married to an elvish man, so a royal bastard like yourself is not beneath her. She was so insistent on you. She'll be beyond disappointed if she hears you refused my offer. If you turn it down, someone else will accept."

"Give me a pen," Hiei stated, letting the king get a rise out of him. Nishi was his. He was hers. She had insisted upon it and he had worked so hard to keep it.

"Not in ink," the king said, producing a thin, sharp knife from his belt. "Blood."

Hiei nearly bulked completely at that. A blood bond contract could not be broken. If any signer broke their promise intentionally, it would mean death.

The king pricked his finger, signing it in his blood. It meant nothing for just him to sign it though without anyone else signing it. The king passed him the knife. Hiei took it in hand, pricking his right pointer finger, and signed the blood bond contract. His stomach flipped as he did so.

When the contract was completed it, Hiei asked the king, "am I free to go?"

"Oh course, cousin," the king consented. "The queen will be very excited to get the wedding for the angel finally planned out."

The queen wanted to plan the wedding, had been planning Nishi's original one to the uncle before she called it off. Nishi had not been excited about it, having let the queen plan everything. It would be a dog and pony show for them all. He was not tempted to let that happen.

Once he left the room, he hid himself in a quiet spot in the hallway. 'Fox,' he said mentally over the distance between the two of them.

'Hiei, what is it?' the fox asked over the distance.

Without including anything about the blood bond contract he signed, he relayed the information to the fox that he was approved to marry Nishi. He included another plan to the fox.

'Hiei, I don't think I can get such a thing done on such short notice,' the fox countered.

'Just get it done,' Hiei insisted.


	51. Chapter 51

Nanashi fumed the rest of the day, mad at Hiei, but not wanting to be so mad at him. She was not sure how to deal with him, beyond needing more time to calm down herself. After lunch, Yasha surprised her by sticking close to her.

"Hey," he told her as he caught up to her as she was living the dining hall. "Have you recovered from this morning yet?" he asked her quietly.

She looked over at him, not sure if he meant from the training or seeing Hiei again. "A bit," she answered.

"You probably could use a bit more time, eh?" he asked teasingly. She hummed under her breath. Her back did feel tired yet as well as her temper was still soldering. He bent down, leaning to whisper into her ear. "Did hear of the formal event, really celebration happening this evening?"

"No," she mumbled. She turned to face him, but he pushed her to face forward while they walked.

"It's private and last minute, but we're invited. Formal dress. I'll be around to make sure you don't miss it, if that's alright with you," he whispered in her ear.

"What kind of event?" she asked him. He only answered her with a chuckle. Usually when he joked around like this, she was only a little annoyed. With her temper on the rise though, she found herself fuming with him. "What. Event?" she asked, emphasizing both words.

Yasha looked her over, looking suddenly nervous. "It's a celebration for Hiei coming back of sorts, and for discovering he is a royal bastard. I know you're still mad at him, and rightly so, but he truly wants you there. The evening would be a waste of time if you weren't there." He glanced behind them, as if worried someone was following them or they would be overheard.

She grumbled under her breath, not quite interested in whatever event this was. "Fine, I'll go," she barely whispered, picking up on his sudden desire to be secretive.

Yasha stayed with her, the rest of the day, much to her annoyance. He had only Sayuri help her get ready for whatever the event was, but not Midori. Sayuri was so focused on her looking just right. Her dress was off white and elvish style and make up coated her face simply, but felt unnatural on her. Her hair was the last thing. The way she was doing her hair was beyond intricate for an event she was unsure she even wanted to attend. She kept unraveling it and redoing it, like she wanted it to be absolutely perfect.

"Where's Midori?" Nanashi asked him, knowing it was not Midori's day off.

"Hmm? You're more talkative lady's maid?" Yasha answered. "Day off." He was sitting on her bed, tapping the sides of it in impatience.

"No she isn't," Nanashi answered.

She saw Yasha and Sayuri exchange a brief glance before Sayuri said, "schedule change, my lady."

"Why?" Nanashi asked Sayuri, not liking what was being covert.

"I can't say, my lady," Sayuri answered humbly. "She is not ready for you to know why yet."

"Did she meet a boy...?" Nanashi asked with a small smile. It was one topic that Midori did like to talk about.

Yasha barked a laugh at her statement. "Yes, _she _met a _boy_..." he answered. "Don't be too hard on her when you see her next." He spoke to Sayuri next, "are you almost done?"

Sayuri gave him a sharp look. "I want it done perfectly," she answered, Nanashi's hair in her hand.

Nanashi looked at her hair in the mirror. Seemed perfectly fine to her. "It is," she complimented.

"See, your lady is happy. Now, can we get going?" he said, standing up.

She went to stand up. "Slowly, slowly," Sayuri said, helping her stand up. Sayuri bent down, fluffing her dress evenly around the skirt. She looked her over, taking in the image of her in her dress. Her eyes looked a little glassy eyed. She cleared her throat. "Walk carefully because of the skirt," she advised. "It's a bit long for you."

Nanashi bit her lip, annoyed with how insistent Sayuri had been to overdress her for some event for Hiei she hardly wanted to go to anyway. She gathered up some of the skirt walking carefully towards the door. Yasha caught up to her, stopping her before she could leave the room. He snapped his fingers over to Sayuri. "Cloak, cloak," he said, hand outstretched.

Sayuri gave him an annoyed look, but fetched a warm cloak from Nanashi's wardrobe. Yasha took it from her, wrapping it around Nanashi to cover up her dress as much as possible. It smelled faintly of mothballs. He even put the hood up over her hair. Nanashi heard Sayuri huff, "be careful of her hair and dress."

Nanashi felt ready to sweat. "Yasha, it's too hot for a cloak," she protested.

"We're not walking far," Yasha told her dismissively. "Sayuri, the room," he said vaguely. Sayuri nodded over to him. "Come on," he said, taking her by the hand and leading her out of the room.

Nanashi felt suddenly nervous, wanting to bulk at leaving the room. "Can Sayuri come with us?" she asked, knowing it was not really the place for her lady's maid to accompany her to whatever even this was.

Yasha started, "that's not-"

"As you wish, my lady," Sayuri replied, suddenly looking quite excited.

Nanashi gave her a small smile, picking up on her excitement. "Alright, yep, that's fine then," Yasha conceded. "We need to get going."

Yasha led the way, taking the back stairs usually reserved for servants in the castle. "Where are we going?" Nanashi whispered, not wanting to speak too loudly in the quiet stairwell. She felt sweat trickling down her back from the musty cloak.

"Not far now," Yasha answered, quickening his pace.

She felt disoriented in the castle, unsure where exactly they were now. They reached a door to the outside, walking quickly towards the small, disclosed wooded and garden that the king's late mother had planted in honor of the Great Hawk Spirit. The sun was setting over the trees. Yasha led her quickly towards the garden, almost jogging now. She felt the skirt of her dress bunch up around her legs, making her nearly trip.

"Yasha, slow down," she hissed up at him.

He stopped just outside the main gate to the garden with her. She could faintly see and smell the fire and torches in the dwindling twilight. She could hear a few people talking quietly in the garden. She let him led through the gate with Sayuri, but they stayed just inside the gate while Yasha locked it behind them.

"It's a private occasion, not a secret one," Yasha explained.

He stepped over to her, undoing her cloak. She was more than happy to strip it off, helping him with it. Once he had the cloak in his hands, she waved her hands in her face, trying to cool herself off. Sayuri hovered around her, straightening her hair and then her skirt. She felt the temptation to get herself a glass of water. She headed towards the the center of the garden, but Yasha stopped her with a hand on her forearm. He nodded over at Sayuri, signaling her to go down to the center of the garden non-verbally. Sayuri jogged briskly down the garden path that led to the center, but Yasha kept her and himself stayed put. She was about to ask Yasha what was happening when she saw Haruto, no, her father, huffing down the path towards them. He still told her she could call him Haruto as she she had been doing that all her life. He held a small bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"She looks gorgeous," Haruto said in awe. "What took you so long?"

"Sayuri wanted her hair just so," Yasha griped.

"What's going on?" Nanashi asked, puzzled.

Haruto looked over at Yasha, frowning. "Why doesn't she know?" he asked grumpily.

"I was worried the king or queen would hear. I was told to be discreet," Yasha shrugged it off.

Haruto shook his head. "She should at least know before this very moment."

"What is this event?" Nanashi asked, stepping away from Yasha.

Haruto turned and faced her. "Your wedding," he said softly. She gasped. "To Hiei. He spoke with the king privately earlier today and got the king's approval for it. After that, we, myself, Hiei, Asa, Kurama, and Yasha, were busy putting this wedding together in secret for this evening. We figured you would want it as a private affair instead of something orchestrated by the queen with thousands watching."

She froze, trying to take all that in. She turned to Yasha, smacking him on his chest. "You should have told me," she growled at him. "He- we- I... okay. Okay," she nodded her head in a rush. She reached her hands up to smooth her hand down. She reached down to her skirt that had been bothering her and Sayuri so much today. She reached over to Haruto, taking the bouquet from him.

"Hurry on down there now," Haruto chased Yasha away. When Yasha was gone, Haruto turned to her. "This shouldn't have been a secret for you. Do you want to do this?"

She nodded, even as she recalled she was rather mad at Hiei yet. Yet this was being kept private, done in a rushed way, but such a way she would want to happen if she could plan it herself. It was happening so fast though, so her cousin was likely not here. She wished he could be at least. "Yes," she said determinedly.

"Let's walk then," Haruto said, offering her his arm. She took it in hers, letting him lead her down the path. She felt the dress's skirt threatened to trip her up. She slowed down, gathering up some of the material in hands. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

"This stupid dress," she breathed with a laugh. "It's not what I would have picked."

"Asa picked it," he explained. "One of her old formal dresses. She figured it would look good on you. She had it sent to your rooms privately." Nanashi felt a little better knowing that.

They reached the main area of of the garden, near a large mighty oak tree planted in honor of the Great Hawk Spirit. She thought to herself it was a very fitting place for a half angel to be married. She looked around the area. She saw Sayuri, Kurama, Yasha, and Asa standing there, along with Yusuke, Keiko, Yukina, and Kuwabara. She smiled over at Yusuke, glad to see he was here after all. Opposite of where they stood was a table set up with food, drinks, and a small cake. She looked forward at the tree, seeing Hiei there, cleaned up and nice looking next to a priest. How he managed to get this organized with help in a few hours was beyond her.

She kept up with Haruto, walking towards the two of them. She did not know where to look, eyes dancing around the tree, mostly on Hiei. Behind him though, she noticed a shadow of sorts that did not belong to the tree. She stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Haruto asked her.

"Someone's in the tree," she pointed to the spot behind Hiei.

Hiei and the priest turned around. There was a bit of shuffling in the back of the tree. Hiei went behind it, hand resting on his sword hilt. "What are you doing here?" he growled, dragging himself and Prince Takashi out in the front of the tree.

Hiei shoved him towards Kurama and Yasha. Yasha pulled him over to stand with him. Yasha took him by the upper arms, shaking the poor lad and asking, "what are you doing here?" Prince Takashi trembled in his uncle's arms, looking frightened and surrounded by a small group of people who here for reasons unknown to him. "Does your mother know about this?"

Kurama stepped over to the pair, gently prying Yasha away from Prince Takashi. He led the prince over to him. "What were you doing in the garden, child?"

"I was, I was just climbing the trees," Prince Takashi answered. "I was climbing, and then saw people setting up. I didn't want to get caught. Mother made me promise not to climb anymore. But I got hungry, and wanted to sneak back away to the castle for dinner..."

Yasha snapped his fingers. "Run along then," he told the prince. "We won't tell your mother you were climbing again, if you don't tell her you what you saw here tonight."

"Deal," Prince Takashi rushed out. He tried to run, but Kurama held him fast.

"No," Kurama said. "He needs to stay with us until the ceremony is finished just in case someone sees him run out of the garden and asks questions."

"No one ever sees me," Prince Takashi bragged. "I climb the hedge. The one that's taller than my dad."

"You need to stay for now. You can climb out of here later," Kurama reasoned.

"But I'm hungry," Prince Takashi whined. "I've been hiding in that tree for what feels like hours."

"Let him stay," Nanashi said soothingly. Hiei gave her a short look. "I want him here," she explained.

Prince Takashi looked over at her with Haruto. "Wow, my angel, you look really beautiful," he gasped.

"Thank you, your grace," she told him.

"Can I have a bite to eat, my angel, I'm starving," he asked, eyeing the table with food on it hungrily.

"Wait a few more minutes," Kurama said down to the prince soothingly.

"I can stay and eat here instead?" Prince Takashi asked.

"So long as you keep quiet," Hiei growled over at him.

"Yes, cousin," Prince Takashi rushed out, stepping back to stand between Kurama and Yasha.

"Can we continue the ceremony?" Hiei asked shortly. Nanashi bit back her dislike for his tone. It was a rush to get this together and they needed it done before the king and queen found out.

Nanashi stepped forward, leading Haruto to walk with her. He brought her up to Hiei and the priest, leaving her there with a hug.

She stood up there, the whole actual ceremony seemingly a blur for her. She spoke through fumbling lips, not actually sure how to act, what to say, or when. Maybe had Yasha actually warned her ahead of time, she could have read up on elvish wedding ceremonies. At least the kiss at the end was the expected part.

After that, they ate from the small amount of food procured last minute. Some of it was actually food Yusuke had given Hiei earlier that morning. Everything was such a rush. So rushed that there no chairs to sit in, so they only had to stand to eat or sit on the ground. Prince Takashi complained about the lack of chairs, being still such a child by elvish standards. He hovered a little bit around Nanashi, which she did not mind. She still found it flattering how he hero worshiped her still for saving him from the dire wolves. Hiei seemed to mind though.

When the prince asked, "when is the dancing?"

"There is no dancing," Hiei griped at him.

The prince looked a little down-hearted at that. Nanashi touched his shoulder, soothing, "we have to be quiet to keep this wedding private. No music, no dancing," she explained. "I can hardly move in this dress, let alone dance anyway." She unruffled the fabric tucked around her knees to prove her point.

"Are you sure, my angel?" he pressed.

She nodded down at him. "When it's your wedding day, you can dance to your heart's content." She heard Hiei huff behind her, but she ignored him. "I think we should probably be wrapping up here soon anyway," she said suggestively. "Don't want to get caught."

She stepped away from Prince Takashi, set her half eaten plate on the table, and over to Hiei. He had already eaten his own fill and finished for quite some time. She took him by the hand. "Lead on," she said, unsure where he had planned for them to go privately. Hopefully he walked slowly enough so she would stumble as they walked.

She felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. "Say your goodbyes first," she heard Yusuke say behind her.

"Oh, right," she murmured, suddenly feeling flushed and nervous. She turned around to face him, hugging him tightly.

"It's not your first time with him, you'll be fine," he teased. She felt her face blush crimson.

She made her way around, hugging those she was comfortable with, trying not to stumbling in the damnable dress. She went to Prince Takashi last, who hugged her with unexpected fervor. "Are you going somewhere, my angel?"

"Just somewhere more private, is all," she stumbled out to explain, not knowing how much he knew or did not know about weddings.

She stepped away from him once more and over to where Hiei stood by himself. She stumbled in her dress, wanting to swear out loud. She offered her hand to him once more, hoping he would not be offended to see it tremble.

He stepped closer to her, ignoring her hand. Instead, he scooped her up into the princess carry, making her gasp nervously. The predatory way he was looking at her made her breath hitch. Worried those who did not know him as she did might not like that look upon his face, she leaned her head up, kissing him passionately for a bit of show. She heard someone lose a subdued cat call, but could not tell who. She would bet on it it was either Yusuke or Yasha. She buried her head in the crook of his neck, not wanting to look around at their friends or family anymore.

"Why do they want to go somewhere private?" she heard the prince ask.

"They just want to do some more kissing is all," Kurama explained to the tune of Yasha's laugh.

She felt him turn around and rush off at surprising speed. She clung to him, eyes closed, trusting him to take her somewhere private.

When he stopped, he set her down on her feet. She opened her eyes, seeing they were still in the garden, just deeper inside of it. They stood before a gazebo, hastily covered in sheets around the openings. He took her by the hand, leading her passed the sheet covering the entrance. She hitched up her skirt as she followed him. She stopped just inside of the gazebo. Inside she saw a large, thick, square shaped mat laying down in the middle of it. Two pillows lay at the far end of the mat. A blanket lay strewn over the mat.

She noticed Hiei was already sitting down on one of the benches that ringed the inside of the gazebo. He was tugging off his own boots and socks. She stepped towards him, intent on following suit.

She stumbled when the skirt bunched up around her knees, making her groan. "I hate this stupid dress," she confessed. "I want it off."

She reached her hands behind her back, trying to get at the top of her dress to get the back undone. Hiei was behind her in an instant, undoing the dress with nimble fingers. She helped him remove the offending dress's upper half. As she shoved the bottom half of the dress down her legs at the same time she tried to step out of it, she lost her balance. She fell onto the mat with a huff. In annoyance, she kicked at the dress until it was off, taking her shoes off her bare feet with it.

"Laying down for me already?" he asked. She looked up at him.

The predatory look on his face had increased tenfold. She felt her stomach both flipped and burned at the same time. He stepped over to her, snagging her by the ankle, and pulling her over to him. He pulled her by the waist to make her stand, turning her around. He pushed her gently against a pillar of the gazebo where there was no bench. He sighed against her neck, running his hands over her.

"You're mine," he sighed against her neck, sending chills down her spine.

She felt flushed, even as goose bumps began to rise up and dot her exposed skin. "I love you, too," she whispered back.

Shakily, she pulled on his own clothes, trying to get him as undressed as she was. She managed to get his scarf, cloak, and muscle shirt off before he could stop her. When she reached her hands down to his belts, he smacked her hands away. He backed away from her, looking her over desirously. She stared at him, feeling suddenly mulish and doltish before him. She stepped over to him. He took her hand, but used it unexpectedly to pull her off balance and down onto the mat. She fell on her knees and elbows, surprised at how little she could feel the stone floor beneath her. She heard him come behind her. He reached up to her hips, yanking her panties off none too gently. She panted loudly, mouth suddenly feeling dry. She rolled over on to her lower back, trying to strip off her remaining bra for him over her head. He took over its removal for her, messing up her hair that took Sayuri so very long to do.

She rested herself on her hands and elbows, watching him. She laid herself down on the bed, feeling suddenly like she did not know anything.

He shook his head, smirking down at her. "Not on your back," he preempted.

He crawled over her, pulling her up by her wrists. She sat up while he sat on his knees. She knew she should do something to him, anything to him. She kissed him, even as he held her wrists in his clasped hands. She could not free her hands from his grasp. She gave up, kissing down to his neck. He let one wrist go, so she used her now free hand to grip the other side of his neck for baring. She felt him using his free hand to undo his belts and pants, which rather impressed her. She sucked on his neck with the feeble intention of marking it, maybe...

That was until he moved again. He twisted her around, making her sit on her knees in front of him. He let her other wrist go. Then he pulled her against him, aligning the two of them back to chest. His left arm locked securely around her waist, lose enough that she could breathe with ease, but tight enough that she could not escape. His hands roamed over over her breasts, pinching them, gripping them, rubbing them over and over again until she thought she could not stand it anymore. She leaned her head back down on his shoulder behind her. She moaned shyly, hands clasped around his left forearm.

"Are you wet for me yet?" he asked in her ear while he kept right on touching her. He gave her earlobe a sharp nip. He brought his right hand down her front, bringing it to rest against her mound. He stroked her down the center, making her whimper noisily. "You are indeed," he answered. She could hear the smirk in his voice. He rested his finger at the top of mound, seeking out and finding her clit. She moan at that, squirming against him, but unable to move much with the way he held onto her. She gasped then when she felt his cock pressed against the space between her legs. He rubbed against the outside of her mound and ass, back and forth. "You want it?" he asked her. "Being part human, you are so narrow. Too narrow for me?" She whimpered, not sure how to answer. "Time for you to learn how to take it." He stopped hand against her, bringing it down to the cock between her legs. He used it to shove his cock up inside of her unexpectedly. She screamed out in surprise. Yet he only went inside and stayed there. "Almost," he concluded in a laughing tone. His right hand went back to her clit, rubbing it anew. She cried out, not sure how to take the sudden mix of the pleasure and the pain together. He was at least not thrusting. "Can you handle it?"

She gnashed her teeth. "Yes," she panted out determinedly.

He slipped himself deeper inside of her, much to her surprise. She could barely breathe. "Can you enjoy it?"

She nodded, not sure how honest she was being. It was too much, too rough, to aggressive, yet she was determined to endured it and enjoy it. She moaned allowed, feeling like she would either have to give into him or stop him. She opened her eyes, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill from them. Her eyes landed on that dress, that stupid yet beautiful dress. The dress Asa had been generous enough to loan her. For the wedding to Hiei that he had planned so fast and suddenly to ensure it was a private one, as she would have wanted. To him as she wanted, in spite of the embers of annoyance of she still felt towards him. She loved him. Her mind roamed to the list the king and queen insisted she give them. She bit back a whimper at the thought of it. She should have never listed Jin's name. Should have refused to write anyone but Hiei's name. Or at least had listed Yasha's as the queen would never have allowed her to wed her brother.

She leaned more heavily against him, baring down on him in spite of the intensity of feeling coursing through her. She moved her hips against him, what little she could manage in that position. She moaned against it all, nearly screaming as pleasure won out within her.

She panted, sinking down to her knees and elbows before him. It took everything within her not to collapse on the mat beneath her. She heard and him come up behind her. He went to slip inside of her before she raised up a hand to stop him.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the delay as chance to strip his pants and boxers off.

"Are there scars?" she asked, hoping he knew what she meant. She had never have asked anyone that question before.

His hand came down to her upper back, stroking across it tenderly. "Nothing I can look at or see," he answered. He bent down, kissing her twice on her upper back.

She watched him come back behind her, aligning his hips with hers. She hoped he would be quick, exhausted as she felt. She nodded up at him. She cried out as he slid inside of her once more. This time he thrusted back and forth. So hard, so fast, so... good... His hands clasped her hips firmly. She could hear him grunting behind her in time with her panting. She laid her arms down on the mat, resting her head on them. He pulled on her, making her arch her back up higher for him. She felt his hand come down to her hair, yanking her up by it. She mewed out, wondering just how ruined the styling was now. She brought her hands underneath her shoulders, locking out her elbows, even as her arms shook. She hoped she could keep herself up long enough for him to finish.

Her arms could not take it though. She collapsed forward onto her stomach. He followed her on, taking her now where she lay. She gripped the blanket beneath her, feeling the urge to scream dwelling up inside of her. She could not think clearly, could not breathe deep enough. She felt him bring his weight down upon her.

"Demons used to... be allowed to... bite their lovers... three times... to make them theirs... that was outlawed,... but one bite is allowed..." he panted against her neck.

She was not sure what to make of his words before she felt him bite her neck, sinking her teeth into her flesh. She screamed hoarsely into the blanket, squirming beneath him. She felt herself tighten on him unexpectedly.

The world suddenly flipped upside down on her. He had gotten of out her, shoving her on her back. Her neck felt wet and sticky. His lips were crimson red, the same color as his eyes. "You're close again," he said, slipping back inside of her. He laid back down on top of her, reentering her. "Wait for me," he said, licking the wet side of her neck.

She clung to him, wrapping her arms around his upper back and legs around his lower back. She felt him suck on her neck now, trying not to think about what exactly he was doing, not minding what he was doing. She felt like she could still not breath deeply enough, gasping loudly in time with every thrust.

She felt him pull away from her neck, raise up, and roll with her. He pushed her up against him, guiding her to move her hips back and forth on top of him. She moaned against the intensity of it all, hearing him moan with her. She opened her eyes, looking down at him. His eyes were closed and his head was laid back, neck arched up to her on the blanket.

"Mine," she panted down at him. Her legs felt about ready to cramp, but she ignored them, not wanting to stop.

"Yes," he answered her on an exhale. "Nishi."

She looked down at his neck, noticing the ache he left in her neck. She wondered if she could do it as well, wondered if the taste of the blood would sicken her stomach or arouse her the way it aroused him. Stealing her nerve, she brought her mouth down on the side of his neck in a rush. She felt her eye teeth pierce his flesh faster than she had anticipated. The taste of his blood to her was immediately off putting, but she heard his shout. Her ears rang from the sound of it. She felt him finish inside of her so suddenly. Before she did again.

She slipped herself off of him, laying down next to him. She rested her head against his chest, panting in time with him. She could hear his heart hammering in his chest. She felt like she was ready to doze off when she felt him move. He pushed her down on her back slowly and without any intensity. He rolled over to her, head raised above hers. He ran his thumb over her blood stained lips. He kissed her, making her surprised to taste her blood on her lips, mixed with his blood on hers. The taste put her off, but she wanted to keep kissing him.

She felt his hand roam as he kissed her, sinking down to her mound. He was quick to put two fingers inside of her. She gasped, pulling her face away from him.

"You were supposed to wait and come with me, not deny yourself," he whispered against her.

Her hand snaked down to grip his forearm. It was too much for her, but if he could tell that or not, he refused to let up. She came for him, arching her lower back until it ached.

"Better?" he breathed down at her. "Better." He kissed once more, so softly that she thought she hardly felt it.

She felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her. She closed her eyes, telling herself she was only meaning to rest them for a bit.

When she woke with a start in the morning, she found herself laying on her back on the mat, blanket over top of her and pillow beneath her head. Hiei was still with her, sitting up beside her, looking over to the entrance of the blanketed gazebo. He kept the bit of blanket he hand firmly around his waist. She looked over at the front of the gazebo through tangled hair.

"So it's true," King Hayate stated as he stood before them.


	52. Chapter 52

Yasha watched with a smirk on his face when Hiei ran off towards the gazebo that was prepared for them with Nanashi. Yahsa hinted casually, "maybe the prince should make his escape," to Haruto and Asa. The two of them were rather close since meeting. Haruto had yet to talk about going back South to his friends and business. He hovered around Asa often as well.

"I think you're right," Haruto agreed, looking over to the area where the newly married couple had disappeared. His face was mixed between proud, relieved, apprehensive, and worried. Yasha could not blame him.

"Let's go, your grace," Asa said, hand resting on Prince Takashi's shoulder.

"Can I climb over the fence?" Prince Takashi asked as they walked towards the garden gate, key to the lock in hand.

"Maybe next time," Asa said reassuringly. "I would like to see what it's like when you climb." She had a talent for saying things to appease others.

Haruto walked off with them, going at a slightly faster pace than the two of them. The priest trailed reverently behind them.

The rest of them started to clean up the area, packing up food to send home with Yusuke and Keiko, who brought most of the food to begin with. Yusuke looked like a pack mule when it was all said and done.

The two of them were at least away when Nanashi's screaming starting. Kuwabara reacted first, looking about ready to head over to the gazebo to investigate. Kurama stopped him, redirecting him to bring the tables towards the gate.

When the two of them left the area, Yasha glanced over at Yukina, seeing a knowing smirk on her face. "She makes him happy?" she asked, knowing the answer herself.

"Happier than the men he's been with, that's for sure," Yasha answered. More faint sounds of Nanashi crying out echoed over to the area they were. "I think it's possibly mutual," he smiled. Yasha found himself wondering vaguely if she realized how rough of a lover he could be before agreeing to wed him.

Another cry. "He won't risk mate claiming her?" Yukina asked.

Yasha shook his head. "He knows better," Yasha stated confidently.

Yukina looked uncomfortable. "I think we should get going if we're to slip out undetected." She walked her way to the gate at a brisk pace.

That left Yasha alone near the oak tree, temptation raising up in him. He stepped lightly over to the area with the gazebo. With the gazebo in sight, he could not see anything in the darkness, but he could hear them. He could hear them breathing heavily, her more than him. Their voices were muted by the sheets and distance between him and them. He could hear Hiei talking, panting out a few words at a time, but could not make out what he was saying. He heard Nanashi scream hoarsely. Whatever they were doing sounded like it was really wearing her out. She would need to build up her stamina with her new husband if she knew what was good for her.

Yasha nearly screamed himself when he felt a sharp hand clamped down on his shoulder. He jumped, turning around to face his own lover. Kurama put a finger to his lips, looking cross. Not a safe look to give Yasha at the moment. Yasha smirked at him, stepping over to Kurama, kissing him unabashedly. He heard Kurama hum under his breath at that before pulling away. Kurama led him by the hand away from the gazebo, Yasha following reluctantly. Yasha took the chance to corner him under the oak tree, pushing him against the tree.

"You're incorrigible," Kurama groaned at him.

"You know big words," Yasha teased.

"Not here," Kurama said.

Yasha frowned at him, feeling shot down. "Upstairs? In our rooms?" Kurama narrowed his eyes at him, tempting him unfairly. Yasha took that as an answer, taking him by the hand to lead him up to the castle. "When's our turn?" Yasha asked, teasing.

"Never," Kurama replied.

"So much less drama that way," Yasha said, relieved. Marriage was not in the cards for everybody.


	53. Chapter 53

King Hayate rallied Nanashi and Hiei to get dressed faster than Nanashi would have liked. She would have rather much prefer to lay back down with him and doze in the gazebo. That, or maybe something more if he was up for it. Likely he of all people would be.

Nanashi could hardly walk fast enough with her dress's skirt tripping her up. If it was not for it being Asa's dress, she would have torn the thing on purpose a long time ago. King Hayate rushed them to his presence chamber to meet with them, sending a servant to run and fetch Queen Minha, who was still sleeping.

Nanashi stood there waiting next to Hiei, shifting her weight from one foot to another. Her hair felt like a rat's nest more than anything else. If Sayuri saw it, she would be ashamed of what became of her work. She felt so thirsty that her head pounded in reminder. She also had a sweet soreness within her. A cup of coffee would not hurt either, or a nap. Even a chair to sit in at the moment would do in the short term.

Queen Minha finally arrived in a fury. "What's going on?" she asked as she stepped passed Nanashi and Hiei and up to King Hayate to stand with him.

"They've married," King Hayate dead panned.

Queen Minha's eyes went wide. "When?" she asked aghast.

"Last night. A small, country bumpkin style of a wedding in the oak tree garden," King Hayate answered. A servant saw some people go into the garden, but all but two come out. Didn't say anything until this morning though."

"Which servant?" the queen pressed. The king named a name Nanashi did not know. "I can speak to them later." Nanashi felt pity for them. Nanashi did however dislike how King Hayate used the term 'country bumpkin.' It could be construed as an insult to either one of them.

"You only had the king's permission and agreement yesterday," Queen Minha pointed out. "How could you have managed this?" Queen Minha looked so offended at the thought that it made Nanashi feel almost like a scolded child. "I haven't hardly started planning half of the wedding we were going to have for you next week."

Nanashi could only begin to imagine how extravagant Queen Minha would have made that one. The idea of going through that kind of dog and pony show made her stomach flip. Queen Minha's eyes seem to bore into her. She could feel Hiei's side ways glance on her as well. She stealed her breath, not wanting to crumble from the gazes of either of them.

Hiei spoke up, "Nanashi was more than willing to wait for what ever extravagant wedding you were planning, but I was not." She looked over at him, surprised he was trying to draw all the blame. "She's mine and I made her mine last night. I planned it all. She had no clue what was happening until she entered the garden."

"Mine?" Queen Minha repeated the word with a puzzled face.

"It's a term of endearment in the demon culture," King Hayate explained. "They also partly mate claimed each other. Both of them bit each other on the neck."

Queen Minha's eyes went wide. "That I know about. That is outlawed. Hayate's grandfather, your great grandfather outlawed that for how violent and forceful it can be. People had died in that process. It's the death penalty for doing it."

Nanashi resisted the temptation to reach up and touch her neck where Hiei had bit her last night. It was rather aggressive, but she took it in stride. He certainly enjoyed her doing it back to him. She recalled him saying one bite was fine, but three were not. "One bite isn't outlawed," she voiced.

"Let me guess," King Hayate drawled out, "his idea as well?"

"Yes," Hiei answered.

Queen Minha gave the two of them a shrewd look. "Was it a legitimate wedding ceremony?" she pressed.

"Yes," Nanashi answered in time with Hiei.

"Priest?" Queen Minha asked.

"Yes," Hiei said, naming him.

"Consummated?" she asked.

"I found them naked in the gazebo," King Hayate answered for them.

"She isn't a virgin, so it could be hard to prove," Queen Minha said confidently.

"It was," Hiei growled out. Nanashi felt herself blush. "Would the king like to read my memories on the incident?" Nanashi did not think the king would be much willing for that with how standoffish he suddenly seemed. King Hayate did not respond to Hiei. Small victory.

"You both had family there?" Queen Minha asked. "An elvish wedding done appropriately has at least one family member from the bride and one from the groom there."

Nanashi looked over at Hiei, knowing he would never want Yukina's connection to him revealed to the king. "No," she lied, looking down at the ground.

"Yes," Hiei said firmly, giving her a sharp look. She returned it with a confused look.

"You can't reveal..." she started, but hummed in finish.

"Can't reveal what?" King Hayate asked, suddenly intrigued.

Hiei answered, "her father and cousin were there as her kin. Prince Takashi was there as mine."

"What?" King Hayate gasped.

"That's where he was at dinner? He lied to me and said he wasn't hungry," Queen Minha scold in a way only a mother could.

Hiei laughed out loud at that, sounding so out of place in the midst of the current conversation. "That child complained about waiting to eat until after the ceremony and then complained about the lack of dancing."

Nanashi looked at Hiei, trying to look more affronted by Hiei telling on Prince Takashi, even though the boy had been petrified by the idea of his mother finding out he had been in the garden climbing.

"Was he climbing the trees at all?" Queen Minha asked in a huff.

"No," Nanashi lied, shaking her head.

"What do you think?" Hiei answered with sass.

Nanashi frowned over at him, genuinely annoyed that he would give up the prince so easily for no reason at all.

"He won't be seeing the light of day for the week," Queen Minha promised.

"The wedding last night was valid, accept it," Hiei insisted.

In a surprising act, he then grabbed Nanashi by the hand, pulling with her with him towards the door. "You don't have our leave to go," King Hayate called after them.

Hiei stopped with his hand at the door. "Excuse us, your graces, my wife is quite tired from last night." He lead her out of the door with him without another word.

He lead them to her rooms, which were bigger and more spacious than his. She saw a breakfast tray sitting on her small table. Either Sayuri or Midori were a genius at planning ahead. She made a bee line for the tray, pouring herself a glass of water and draining it thirstily.

After pouring herself a second glass, she sipped from it. She sat down her couch, feeling relieved to rest her weary self. She looked around the room, noticing something was missing. "You need to move your stuff in with mine," she mused. He stepped over to the tray, grabbing himself something to eat. He gave her a curious look. "I assume we're live in these rooms now, instead of your small one," she said with a small smile. "I was given the third best rooms in the castle after all."

"Taken from Jiro?" Hiei mused, small smile on his face. Nanashi felt her headache starting to dissipate. She looked at the food on the plate, not feeling hungry quite yet. "Eat," he told her, pushing a the tray towards her.

She looked at the food, deciding on pouring herself a cup of coffee first. "Why did you tell the queen the prince was with us last night?" she asked, speaking the question on her mind.

He clicked his teeth. "Would have made the wedding invalid in their eyes if I didn't."

She shook her head. "No, it wouldn't. And you know why..." she hinted without saying.

"He shouldn't have been there in the first place," he replied.

She hissed through her own teeth, feeling testy. She took another sip of her coffee. Even just the smell seemed to wake her up. "He didn't need betrayed like that," she grumbled, quietly standing her ground.

"Hn," he grunted at her, looking at her without blinking. She resisted the urge the blink first. It was a rather tense staring contest. "Who else's name did you write down for the king and queen?" he dead panned.

She blinked, sitting her coffee cup down. She tried to will her breathing to stay natural. "I only wanted to give your name," she said down to the coffee cup. "They insisted and insisted I gave them another name." Her voice cracked, giving way that she was nervous. Her breathing got faster and she felt her face flush. She could not name Jin, she could not name Jin.

"Who else did you write down?" he asked softly. The lack of insistence or bite in his tone was worse than if there was any.

She stood up, walking away from him. She bumped her leg into the chair, but did not react to it. She could feel his eyes on her. "I didn't want to write anyone else down," she grumbled, plopping down on her bed tiredly. It was like he never needed to blink. She looked down at her floor. "Yasha," she choked out, trying not to let herself crack under the pressure.

He looked at her disbelievingly. He laughed at her, making her jump. She blinked, trying to keep herself under control. He rose up from the couch, walking over to her. "He's not threat. Besides, Kurama would eat you alive if you tried. Also, you're missing a few bits he likes to play with," he teased. She knew she was breathing too quickly still. She did not dare to look at him yet. "Red hair especially," he teased. His hand come over to her, but she flinched away. "What's wrong?"

"Tired," she murmured.

He huffed, laughing quietly to himself at her. "Worn out?" he asked her. "Or unsure how to handle how I took your answer to my question? Yasha," he laughed at the name. "We'll keep that between us, by the way. Kurama might get territorial. Not worth the risk." She sighed under her breath. He had believed her, which itself was unbelievable. He stepped over to the bathroom, gesturing her to join him. "Shower?" he asked her.

Not wanting anything to seem amiss, she rolled herself off of the bed, trailing after him. "Just a shower though," she requested groggily.


	54. Chapter 54

Six weeks had passed sense Nanashi and Hiei had wed. Nanashi found it different with living with him in her rooms now, albeit exhausting most nights and sometimes in the mornings. When she could keep him at bay for just a night to sleep, she sometimes found herself preferring that.

They had sunk into a bit of a routine with a few changes here and there. Haruto had gone home, but only for a short leg to sell his restaurant and inn with plans to move up to the capital and set up a new business here instead. Nanashi also finally picked up on the more than friendship growing between Asa and Haruto, liking the idea of it more than not. While she had no clue until recently he was her father, she could not fault him seventeen years after her mother, whom he only spent a night with really, passed away for moving on with another woman. The sight of the two of them together actually brought a small smile to her face.

The routine of the six weeks was shattered however when an emissary from Alaric came to the castle in Lord Mukuro's name. King Hayate and Queen Minha met with him in private at first with Kurama in the room to stand as king's advisor. Nanashi knew Lord Mukuro was looking for an heir to his territory as he did not have a child or family member of his own. Yasha had teased her about her going for it, but she had heard that two people had died trying.

So it was must to her chagrin that Hiei and herself were called in to the meeting with the other four. Nanashi entered in front of Hiei, seeing the four sitting at the table with the king at the head and the queen and Kurama by him across from each other. The emissary sat next to Kurama, looking around the room in bored curiosity. His grey mask covered all but his eyes, with a point coming out of the top of it. Queen Minha beckoned the two of them over to the table, telling them to sit on the same side as her. Hiei led forward, no emotion shown on his face. He sat down across from the emissary without so much as a curious look.

Nanashi had followed after Hiei, planning to sit down next to him. Yet when she got close the emissary, her wind dragon reacted unexpectedly. It rose up in its compact form around her neck, hissing and snapping its jaws at him. The emissary rose up swiftly to his feet, facing her head on. She gasped, trying to figure out how to get her wind dragon to calm down. Her hands were on it on her neck, mouth moving quickly and silently as she tried to get it to go away.

'Go away,' she mouthed, thinking to the wind dragon.

'Demon,' the wind dragon growled testily.

'He hasn't attacked me,' she countered. 'He's a guest of the king's right now.'

'Demon,' the wind dragon focused only on that fact. 'If you moved fast, you could kill him by catching him off guard.'

'No,' she stated.

'Mistress,' the wind dragon wanted her permission to attack.

"I said go away," she stated out loud in frustration.

'As you wish,' the wind dragon grumbled, disappearing back under her neck.

She sighed in relief, blinking at the scene around her. All eyes were on her. The emissary had some kind of peculiar energy culminating around him. It disappeared suddenly after she got her wind dragon to stand down.

"My apologies, sir," she fumbled out politely. "The wind dragon... it's... um... protective," she explained pathetically.

"An angelic weapon," the emissary stated, inclining his head towards her. "So the rumors of an angel at the king's court are true."

"Yes sir," she said. She rushed her steps to walk over to the other side of the table without meeting anyone's gaze. She sat down next to Hiei in a rush. She felt the temptation to reach over to him for the comfort, but she resisted the urge with the emissary's eyes on her.

King Hayate cleared his throat. "This is the emissary from Alaric, Kirin," he introduced, nodding towards the emissary. "Lord Mukuro requested I send him someone strong enough to prove him to be his heir to Alaric when he is gone. I am interested in sending the two of you, as well as Yasha and Kurama for a chance to apply to be Lord Mukuro's heir. The four of you are strong enough for it. He could pick one of the four of you when you get there and go from there."

Nanashi thought it over. The king was putting up the four of them for a chance at a lordship of the Northern territory. While Yasha and Hiei were nobles, they were also bastards who would not be allowed to inherit anything from their families. Even as a part angel, Nanashi was not from any important bloodline down south. Nor was Kurama from where he was from. The chance for a either of them inherit a lordship was a phenomenal chance that either of them could not pass up. Nanashi wanted it, was surprised by the desire to go for it. A year ago, this would never be even a daydream for her.

"How would he chose between us?" Nanashi ventured, looking from King Hayate, Kirin, and back again.

Kirin turned to her. "The four of you would come back to Alaric with me in two days time. Lord Mukuro will chose out of the four of you from there," he explained.

"Whomever he chooses, stays there? Becomes his heir?" Nanashi asked.

Kirin gave a soft chuckle under his breath. "Whomever he chooses must then prove himself or herself worthy by going through intense training and survive it."

Nanashi blinked at that. "How long is the training?" she pressed.

"Months," Kirin answered.

Nanashi took a steadying breath. Months. She would be separated from Hiei for months if she got the chance to be Lord Mukuro's heir. She wondered how the two of them would handle months worth of separation after being married so briefly.

"I want to go," she answered. "I want to try."

Queen Minha spoke up. "So are Kurama and Yasha. What about you, Hiei?"

Hiei had been silent the whole time. He nodded.

"Then the five of us leave in two days time," Kirin said.


	55. Chapter 55

Nanashi felt so rushed in the next two days, getting ready to go to Alaric with Hiei, Kurama, Yasha, Kirin, and the new head of the king's stables, Kohaku. Kohaku had replaced Jin when Jin was dismissed, which made Nanashi nervous around him, not sure what he might think of her.

There was no time to worry about that however with all the packing they had to do. They were taking ten hippogriffs with them on the journey that was going to last at least twelve days, which was going to be long for them all. Alaric was a mountainous area, which was going to slow them down when they reached there. The hippogriffs could fly, but not all day for twelve days straight.

The morning they were supposed to leave arrived, which was stressful. Nanashi had taken up with Kohaku to help with the hippogriffs as they remembered her from when she volunteered with Jin. The temperamental, all black hippogriff, Fury, would not let anyone but her and Kohaku touch him as he was agitated about the trip. It ended up with her being the one who would ride him as he was less snappy with her than Kohaku.

Asa, Yusuke, Keiko, Kuwabara, and Yukina came to them to see them off. Nanashi wished Haruto was still there, but he was still down South closing his inn and restaurant to move up here. She was sad to miss saying good bye to him as well.

What did surprise her was seeing Yukina of all people pulling Hiei aside and speaking with him privately. Later, when Nanashi asked him what it was about, he showed her the tear gem she had given him, and how she had asked him to try and search for her long lost brother in Alaric.

When they finally left, the trip was monotonous. Traveling, traveling, and traveling day in and day out. At night, Nanashi shared a tent with Hiei, while Kurama shared with Yasha, and which left Kirin to share with Kohaku.

During the day, Nanashi either rode Fury or flew with her wind dragon's wings as much as she could. It was exhausting, but being exposed to Kirin, a full demon, pushed the wind dragon to get stronger, which pushed her to get stronger. She also pushed her to fly and keep flying to get stronger. Losing her original wings was devastating. Getting her wind dragon to conjure up a pair from itself was not the same, but close enough. She had the complete and independent freedom of the sky unlike the others did when they flew on the hippogriffs.

On the seventh day of traveling, she had managed a full hour of flying on her own at the end of they day's travel. She stumbled into the camp, half collapsing near the fire Hiei had gotten going for the six of them.

She felt Hiei watching her, but he had not come near her. They all were used to her being like this at night that it was nothing much to be concerned about. Besides that, Hiei had warned her privately that Kirin was watching them, watching all four of them to see which one was going to be the best candidate for Lord Mukuro. Demons valued strength. If any of the three of them came up to Nanashi, babying her for stumbling exhausted into the camp, Kirin would see it and would tell Lord Mukuro. It would make her look weak and would make the one who comforted her look weak. If she exhausted herself, then she would still have to take care of herself and pull her own wait in the camp.

Nights were their own kind of exhausting. Hiei told her in their tent that she would have to keep it down as Kirin would hear them. He made it so difficult though, rolling around with him on the sleep mats and sleeping bags. One night in particular she had to cover her mouth as he took her from behind lest she cry out into the night.

One the morning of the eighth day, she woke up feeling more exhausted than when she went to sleep when Hiei finally let her. She saw Hiei was already up, dressed, and ready for the day. She rolled over on the sleep mat, groggily extricating her unclothed self from the sleeping bag. She reached over to her rucksack, blinking as she pulled out clothes she could wear for the day. She wondered if when Lord Mukuro chose her to be his heir, if he would give her a chance to recover from the journey before putting her to the test.

As she started getting dressed, she felt his heavy gaze boring on her. She put her shirt on, blinking up at him. "What's wrong?"

He stared at her quietly, making her feel a sense of unease coming off of him. Did he know she was thinking about? How she was already planning to be Lord Mukuro's heir instead of him. She knew he wanted be chosen, too.

He grunted under his brief, looking slightly agitated. "You need a day to rest," he commented. "You're exhausted."

"No," she frowned at him. That was a ridiculous idea. "We only had four more days of traveling to do. I can rest when we get to Alaric Castle," she reasoned. "Besides, I am getting stronger. I can fly longer now than I used to. And I want to..." she hummed to finish her sentence.

"You want to be chosen as the heir?" Hiei said, cluing in.

She had kept getting dressed. She had finally finished getting her pants on for the day. "All four of us want it," she answered honestly. "I can keep going. I want to keep going. If we rest for a day, especially for me, my chance is gone." She stood up. "I won't give up my chance that easily," she said determinedly. She stepped out of the tent, joining the others in getting ready for the day.

The next four days were somehow double exhausting for her, even though they were exposed to more demons now in the area, which forced her to become stronger. She pushed through it, managing two hours of flying solo the night before they reached the castle.

The next day, the last day of traveling, she kept herself on her hippogriff all day, whether she liked it or not. She needed to rest. She needed to make sure she entered the castle, she did not look exhausted, or tired, or weak, or anything like that. She felt so limited on Fury, not being able to instantaneously change direction if she wanted to.

In the afternoon, they finally reached Alaric Castle, a large, ma cab looking thing in the middle of the largest mountain range in the country. The rocks and trees were thick around the area, making for a good set of natural fortifications. It was intimidating looking, but she liked it in an odd way. She wanted it to be hers as soon as possible. One more night and then she could start her training or whatever it was to prove herself to Lord Mukuro. It would also be the last night she spent with Hiei. That thought made her feel nervous and sad.

Once the hippogriffs were dropped off at the stables, the six of them went up the castle, settling into their own rooms. Nanashi liked that she was sharing a room with Hiei, seeing as this would be the last night they were together for a while.

They only had a little bit of time in their rooms before they were expected down to dinner. She could have had a chance for a quick nap if she wanted it, but she resisted the temptation as that might make her look weak. Nanashi felt a little too over focused about trying to appear strong, trying to think of how she could show Lord Mukuro she was the best choice out of the four of them. She could not imagine how she could stomach it if Kurama or Yasha were chosen instead. They were her friends, which made her conflicted to think even that. Yet she was determined to get it. If not her, Hiei. She could stomach Hiei getting it.

They went down to dinner, Nanashi dressed in an outfit she hoped conveyed that she was strong. She was also expecting to see Lord Mukuro finally. Yet at dinner, it was just Kirin, Yasha, Kurama, Hiei, and herself in the dining room.

The five of them sat down at the table in the dining hall together. The room was dark, and dimly lit. It was almost too hard to see anything properly. The servants that came and served them were silent. The whole room itself was silent as no one spoke as they ate. Nanashi was not willing to be the one who broke the silence first. She forced herself to eat everything that was served, even though she was so nervous that she was not hungry at all. She did however look about the room, trying to see where Lord Mukuro might have put a camera or something to spy on them from. Maybe he even was a telepath like Hiei and was watching them all through Kirin's eyes or something.

When the meal ended and the plates were cleared away, Kirin finally spoke. "Hiei's been chosen," he said, standing up from his chair.

The world seemed to tilt for Nanashi. She gasped, not fully comprehending Kirin meant even though his words were very clear.

"How?" Yasha exclaimed. He also did not seem to understand at least.

Kirin explained, "Lord Mukuro has been watching each of you since you arrived at the castle. Hiei is the best choice of the four of you."

Nanashi looked over at Hiei, noticing he was even surprised. Kurama was only studying Kirin. "What was the reason?" he asked quietly.

Kirin paused, eyes squinting. It confirmed to Nanashi Lord Mukuro was in fact a telepath and was connected to Kirin's mind in someway. "Not the king's puppet and not pregnant."

Nanashi gasped, thinking in a fast frenzy, distracted by Yasha's reaction. "I'm-we're-" he gestured between Kurama and himself, "we're not puppets for the king. We have little interest in doing whatever the king wants."

Kurama put a hand on Yasha's shoulder, getting him to stop and calm down. "An adviser and a queen's brother could look like that, from the wrong angle."

Yasha was still huffing, ruing in his own jealousy and rejection. Nanashi could not blame him. They had not even met Lord Mukuro in person and Hiei was just chosen without word or warning.

"I'm not a puppet," Nanashi said, thinking out loud. If she was not chosen because she was a puppet, then... She gasped, covering her hands over her mouth. She pushed the chair out, looking down at her stomach, placing a hand on it. "There's no way..." She looked over at Hiei next to her. From one look at his face, she knew he already knew. "You knew. You already know..." she breathed. "How long?" she asked, brow knitting. It was a rush of information and emotions to process. Lord Mukuro did not chose her because she was pregnant... she was pregnant.

"Four days... and then three days..." he told her. He did not look to willing to tell her anything.

"I need a minute," she excused. She felt sick to her stomach. She rose up, leaving the dining room before she could get sick in the room.

She slipped into the hallway, sitting herself down in the nearest corner she could find. She sat down, elbows coming to rest on her knees. She put her hands over her face, not sure how to react being just numb. She was tempted to cry, tempted to throw up, tempted to rage, tempted to do who knew what. Yet she only just sat there.

She had no clue how long she sat there in her numbness. She heard someone walking in the hallway, so she looked up. She saw Kurama walking towards her. She stood up,brushing herself off as she did so. She watched him walk up to her, not sure how to react to him being here.

When he got closer, she felt her emotions rising. She closed the distance between him, hugging him and leaning her weight against him. She felt safe with him, like she did with Yusuke. It made her miss Yusuke. She felt a few stray tears slip out, even though she was determined to keep them at bay.

"You ought to go rest in your room," he told her soothingly. She nodded up at him, wiping at her eyes.

She somberly let him lead her to the room she was sharing with Hiei, surprised to find it empty. She felt a moment of panic.

"He's not already gone, is he?" she asked. She was upset about their new upcoming separation. It would be even worse if her running off would lead her to not be allowed to see him to say goodbye.

Before Kurama could even answer, she saw down the hallway at Hiei and disgruntled Yasha coming towards them. It was so awkward to stand there in the hallway the four of them.

"Good night," Nanashi said, breaking the awkward silence. She opened the door and slipped into her and Hiei's room.

Hiei followed in after her, shutting the door behind him. She sat herself down on the bed, stomach clenching, emotions churning. It was so much on her mind right now. Without feeling like she had a chance to properly prove herself, Hiei was chosen in her stead. And she just got pregnant with twins. And that her and Hiei were about to go through another separation, but not the one she was going to expect.

He reached her, standing before her. He was studying her, seeing how she was handling all of it. "It'll be six months," he said, answering the unasked questions. "Once that time is up, you can come back here."

She looked up at him, feeling herself pale. "If you survive," she commented.

"Hn," he grunted at her confidently. "I'll survive."

"I know," she murmured out, wanting to be just as confident as he was. She looked up at his headband. "You contact me every single day," she demanded. He nodded, making her feel relieved. She felt a wave of exhaustion hit her, mixing up in her emotions. He stepped closer to her, placing his hand on her lower stomach. The look he was giving her was conflicted and she felt similar. "I didn't expect this so soon," she admitted. "I wanted to wait a few years," she explained.

He looked away from her face, and down to her middle. "Same," he breathed in a sigh. "Hopefully two boys. That would preferable." She nodded, unsure how much she agreed with what he desired.

He brought himself closer up to her, catching her off guard when he kissed her. She jumped, but sunk into it, not wanting to think anymore. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling him laying down her down on the bed.

She did not think, just let him take the lead, going through the motions. He stripped her down quickly, looking her over as she kept her head downcast. She could feel his eyes all over her, as if trying to memorize what she looked like. He took his own clothes off himself. When he was ready, he brought his weight down over top of her, grinding his hips against hers, trying to excite her. His mouth came down on hers, pressing his lips against hers with unexpected fierceness. She yielded completely to him, mouth following his and legs spread open for him, as much as she felt like trying in the moment.

His mouth roamed away from hers, sinking down to her chest, nipping at her with sharp teeth. She whimpered out at that, hardly wanting to. She heard him growl. He sunk his head lower, nipping at her as he went. His tongue danced along the top of her mound, letting his teeth be included. He grounded his mouth against her, making her also want to squirm away. She felt him slide two fingers inside of her to tease inside along with his tongue. She sighed, bringing her hand down to grip his hair. The other hand came up to her mouth in a fist. She found that even as he worked her over with such intensity, she could not enjoy it. More was laying there waiting for him to stop.

He hissed through his teeth, sitting up and pulling away from her. She could feel his heavy gaze on her, mixed with lust and frustration. She kept her eyes away from his. She felt like she would crack if she did.

"Do something," he whispered in frustration.

She sat up, willing herself not to break down now. The desire to send him off with a good memory conflicting with her desire to just lay down and cry.

Without looking at his face, she scooted to the edge of the bed, making him step backwards away from him. She sank down to the ground on her knees before him. She brought him hard into her mouth, dancing her tongue along him the way he liked. She heard him sigh in a relaxed tone this time. His hand snaked into her hair, pulling on it in an attempt to elicit something out of her. Rather, she took it in silence.

His hands were firmer, pulling her off of him. He took her by the shoulders, guiding her back down to the bed. He backed up, asking, "on your hands and knees."

She did as he asked, moving slowly. He seemed to really like this position. She made room for him on the bed to come behind her. He brought his hands over her backside and hips. She brought her elbows down on the bed, hanging her head low. He brought his cock, rubbing it against her before thrusting it inside of her. He loosed a low moan, taking her with a sense of urgency. She laid her head down on her arms, waiting for him to finish and for it to be over.

She felt him finish in time with a loud groan. "Damn it," he swore.

She let herself collapse on the bed and stayed where she laid. He turned her over, making her realize he did not want to be done just yet. They were about to be separated for months, and yet she could not bring herself to rally the way he wanted her to.

He panted, laying himself on his side down beside her. His hand slid down her front once more, making an effort to make her enjoy herself. She closed her eyes, trying to relax enough to give into him. She panted, closing her eyes and trying not to think. She felt him shift over top of her, sneaking his mouth to tease at the mate bite he marked on her neck. She breathed deeply, hand coming down to grip his forearm. His hand grew rougher with her, fingers pressing harder and deeper. He had her finally, got her. She felt exhaustion wash over her in tune with pleasuring her.

He sat up, sitting back on his knees. He pulled her up with him, tired though she was now. He brought her down on his lap, slipping back inside of her so suddenly. She exhaled noisily, feeling a deep ache starting to take root inside of her. She managed to move with him, trying not to think, just move.

He rose up unexpectedly, making her pull away and sit back down on the bed. He turned her around, taking her from behind once more, harder this time. His hand came over to her hair, using it to pull her up and lean her back against his chest. It was like a repeat of their wedding night. One arm wrapped firmly around her ribs, holding her up. The other hand snaked down to her front, teasing her with such intensity that she hardly thought she could handle it as she came.

When she finished, he let her go. She brought her elbows back down on the bed, finding purchase. She held herself up, keeping her back arched for him, trying to move in time with him. "Nishi," he whispered her pet name.

He pulled back, sitting up on his knees. She lay down on the bed, curled up and panting. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. It was only when he had finally finished and then laid down spent, did she let her emotions finally spill out.


	56. Chapter 56

That dream again. Being born to the to ice maidens, their fear of him at just a newborn. His mother's friend throwing him off the floating island. His first happy memory was his decision to seek out his revenge against that man hating women...

"Yo," Hiei heard a voice call out to him in the middle of is fall in his dream. He jumped awake from his roost in Lord Mukuro's fighting pit far below the castle. The lord covered his face in wrappings and charms, so much so that only one eye was visible. Six months done here, fighting for survival, all while under the watchful eye of Lord Mukuro. "You still sleeping or what?" Hiei flicked his eyes open, but did not rose from his sitting position. One hand held his sword, and the other supported his head to sleep his raised knees. Lord Mukuro kept approaching him. "I gotta admit, I really didn't think you get this strong in six months. You're something else, man." Lord Mukuro did not seem perturbed by the dead strewn around them. The demons he had sicked on Hiei to prove his strength. "There's no point in lumping you with the other goons. I think it's time you tried out to be my heir. Whatta ya say?" Hiei studied him, unsure how truthful the liltful way he spoke was. His voice sounded unnaturally deep as well.

"I say the stronger I get, the further away I seem to get from you," he answered. "You're a fucking monster. What kind of demon are you? What's your true form?" Hiei had racked him mind for months trying to figure out the answer to that question.

"Don't worry about me, man," Lord Mukuro answered. He seemed more amused by Hiei's insult more than anything else. "It's gonna be like 'Hiei... I am your father' when the mask comes off." Hiei clicked his teeth. He already knew this elusive lord was not his father. The mad elf Ichiro had already been proven that was him. Lord Mukuro kept going, "though I guess it is about time I showed what I look like, at least."

"Hmm..." Hiei hummed under his breath.

"All right, I'm gonna bring back the weakest guy in my guard. You beat him, and I'll show you my face and give you a chance at becoming my heir." Six months and all he spoke of was 'a chance, a chance, a chance.' It had been way too long to be teased and tested and pestered for 'a chance.' "My little 'inner circle' isn't like the main army. There are always seventy-seven members, all hand-picked by me. The number doesn't mean anything, by the way. i just think it's cool. The guy I'm gonna bring back is part of that circle. I'd say you and he are about on the same level."

This Lord Mukuro was such like a wind bag. Worse than the king. "Talking with you drives me nuts, you know that? I don't need any special chance."

Lord Mukuro continued his infuriating rambling, "don't be so sure, it's pretty convenient. You make the cut, and you've got some of the most capable demons around on your side. Their help would, say make finding what you're yearning for pretty easy..." Hiei stared at him in shock. "Gimme about five minutes."

Hiei watched Lord Mukuro saunter away like he owned the place. 'That bastard gives me the creeps,' he thought to himself. 'He was acting like he already knows...'

Hiei waited over five minutes, yet that gristly lord still had not shown his masked face again. Hiei felt his frustration threatening to get the better of him. He rose up, drew his sword, and took his aggression out on the nearest statue. The movement forced the tear gem necklace Yukina gave him to flounce out of his shirt, much to his annoyance. He recalled his promise to Yukina to look for her brother up in the North while he was here. Little did she know her search was fruitless. He had told her so himself. She should just think him dead and be done with it.

"We're back," Lord Mukuro called as he reentered the underground fighting pit.

Hiei turned to face the two of them, taking the second needed to tuck the tear gem back under his shirt. "You..." he breathed, seeing the osteopath. The man who had no only implanted his Jagan Eye all those years ago, but also the one who trained him how to use a sword.

Hiei looked at the osteopath, asking, "the demon surgeon, Shigure. When did you join up with Mukuro?"

The osteopath met his gaze. "Around the same time I put that Jagan in your forehead," he answered.

"You know each other?" Lord Mukuro asked in an amused voice.

The osteopath answered, "as a doctor knows his patient, nothing more. I did teach him a bit about swordplay as well...but I see he's developed his own style now." Hiei stood up straighter, readying himself for anything in the moment. "I'm impressed... you can't even tell I operated on you. The procedure is closer to a 'rebirth' rather than a simple augmentation. Thusly, your power dropped roughly to the same level as when you were an infant. I remember it well... your strength dropped from A-level to D-level. And yet, just a few years later, you've grown even stronger than before your surgery. I am truly impressed."

As the osteopath rambled down memory lane, he stepped forward. His large, circular sword blade resting comfortably around his shoulders. He was ready for a fight, so Hiei had to be as well. He threw off his head band, revealing his Jagan Eye to sight. He also reached in and untucked Yukina's tear gem from around his neck. "Oh yea. I guess at some point I hit the same level you're at."

The osteopath's eyes went straight for the tear gem. Hiei remembered this old ploy he used back in the day. Reveal the gem to tempt a demon to fight him because they would desire to snatch the shiny thing away from him. He gave a small smirk seeing it worked on the osteopath as well.

The osteopath spoke, "I see you found the tear gem you were searching for."

Hiei brought his hand up to the gem. "This isn't mine."

The osteopath looked intrigued. "Oh ho... then it must be your sister's," he commented. "So either way you found one of your two targets."

"This is intriguing. Explain," Lord Mukuro commanded.

The osteopath was more than happy to. "Hiei commissioned me to implant the Jagan in his forehead in order to aid his search. He sought two things- his mother's momento, the tear gem, and his sister's home, Hyouga. I decide whether to accept patients or not based on what, if anything, I can rob their world of. In other words, I take a part of their life rather than money. Hiei's was no different. As payment, I required that if he ever found his sister, he could never reveal himself to be her brother." That got a laugh out of Lord Mukuro. "If you defeat me, I'll give you a full refund."

The foolish osteopath had yet to still realize the cost had been no cost at all. "I told you before the surgery I never had any intention of telling her who I really am," Hiei declared. His mind had not changed over the years.

The osteopath still did not believe him, "people change their minds all the time."

Lord Mukuro drew attention back to himself. "Okay, boys, that's enough reminiscing. This is a fight, and your lives are on the line. There's nothing better than a life-or-death battle, no matter what style the combatants use. The moment the match is decided and the two journey's end, is like the flash of a thousand fireworks. Begin!"

Hiei stood ready and alert. His hand stayed trained on his sword, holding it up at the ready in his right hand. He rested his left hand at the top of the blade. The osteopath drew his large, circular blade: the will-o'-the wisp circle stone sword.

Hiei watched, thinking to himself, 'the longer this goes, the worse it'll get for me...' The two of them clashed together, fighting each other. He could not help his mind wandering calmly. 'Until now, I've always fought to live.' His mind flitted over all the fights he had had in his life; as a youth with the bandits, as an undefeated pit fighter, all those demon animals alongside Nishi and the others. 'I'd do whatever it took to win... because I had a purpose, but not anymore. It doesn't matter when I die... only how I go out.' Facing death was an oddly calming. Going out with only the regret that he might never see Nishi again...

He felt Mukuro's gaze never leave them in their fight that lasted just a hair longer than his realization. Sacrificing his left arm by allowing the circular blade to push his own sword through his forearm did the trick to distract the osteopath. Once distracted, it left him wide open. Hiei launched himself over the circular blade to go for the osteopath's head. He missed, annoyed with himself, but kept focused. He jumped back, opening himself up long enough for the circular blade to bite deeply into his torso.

"I win," the osteopath declared far too soon.

Another opening. Hiei took the chance, slicing off the top half of his head with the remaining blade of his own sword.

"Brilliant," was the last word the osteopath said.

"Not bad," Hiei disagreed. '... not bad? THe old me never would've said that... when did I change?' His mind flashed over Nishi. She would be showing by now. 'When... did... I?'

"Hiei," he heard Lord Mukuro's voice call out to him in a sincere tone. "That was an amazing display... you've earned a reward." The lord held out something in his hand. Hiei felt his vision fading, making it impossible to see what he was being shown. "Your tear gem. The treasure you've spent most of your life searching for. To me, it's never been anything but a tribute from some territory I control."

Hiei felt himself growing colder, but only this time it did affect him. Such a weird sensation to feel bothered by the cold. "Feh... I don't need it anymore... it stinks like your guts..." He closed his eyes, accepting the fact that death was closing in on him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. If it was any conciliation, he knew he made it farther than the others who tried to become Lord Mukuro's heir.

Before death came though, he saw his life flash before his eyes. Childhood with the bandits, picking fights with the demons he taunted with his tear gem, loosing his tear gem, enduring getting the Jagan Eye and its aftermath, getting caught shamefully as a bandit leading to him being driven into debt to become a pit fighter, the fake lord buying him out of his debt, the dumb ass fake lord killing himself in his drunken stupidity, fleeing South, meeting Nishi, training her, being taken by the procurer, Nishi's failed rescue, the king's men's rescue, being in the castle, destroying the cape, falling for Nishi, fighting the demon animals, giving into Nishi, marrying her, and then her gloomy goodbye when she left Alaric castle with the others.

After that, he felt a surge of life, feeling Lord Mukuro enter his mind with her full telepathic force.


	57. Chapter 57

Hiei was bristling internally. Nishi and the others should have been here by now. It was a twelve day journey by hippogriff from the capital to the castle, but it was day fourteen and no show. Hiei tried to reach her or the others with her mentally, but to no avail. They should at least be within his telepathic range by now. Mukuro seemed unperturbed. Said she might send a search party out if they did not show up by day twenty-four.

Ten days from now. Ten days from now was too long to wait. Nanashi was seven, almost eight months pregnant now and should not be traipsing through the mountains like this, especially without one of Mukuro's men as their guide.

After grappling with the decision as to whether or not to go after them overnight, he nicked himself some supplies, and went stole away early in the morning to go search for himself.

The hippogriff he took was the one he originally rode from the capital. She knew him and was a pretty dependent stead.

He kept his mind open as he rode down the main road, searching and searching for someone else's mind, so he could find out where Nishi and the others were. Even after a full day of flying and riding, he had nothing, much to his displeasure. He tied up his mare, found a tree, and slept uneasily for the night.

He woke up before dawn after only a few hours of sleep. The hippogriff did not seem a fan of being saddled up so early after such a late night, but she still journeyed on for him, like she seemed to understand his haste. He rode on, mentally seeking someone he knows, anyone he knows out there. After hours and a near headache, he finally found Nishi's mind.

'Nanashi?' he called out mentally. It was still faint, but he could reach her thankfully.

'Hiei?' she responded. He could tell she was talking out loud as she spoke. He saw she resting in a tent. Asa was near her, turning over to her in a motherly way.

'Where are the others?' he asked her. Surely it had to be more than just Asa and her on the trip.

'Kurama and Yasha are guarding the camp,' she answered only mentally. 'We were attacked on the road twice... we lost Kohaku and three hippogriffs. We have to walk lest we get separated.'

'It's the afternoon. Why aren't you still traveling?' he insisted. They were still alive at least, except for the groom. If they were already attacked twice, they should be on the move ceaselessly, not loafing around in a tent. He sensed that Nishi did not want to answer him. 'Why?' he pressed.

'I needed to rest...' she said. 'Yasha was supposed to protect Asa, but one of the attackers got around him. I stepped in to protect, but now I am so weak that I can't travel.'

He frowned to himself. He nearly searched through her mind for what happened, but recalled he promised not to do that. He instead entered the wolf healer's mind, wanting to know what happened. They had set out with the goal to reach the castle within the twelve days for them. The wolf healer had not wanted Nishi to travel at all though being pregnant. She had been having such a difficult pregnancy. One of the children was fiery, and one of them was icy. The fire child within her burned intermittently so hot for her that she could hardly handle it. If it was not for the ice child cooling her down, and even healing her internally, both of the children would have likely been lost. One problem though was the fire child was getting stronger than the ice child, putting all three of them at risk. It did not help that it wore on Nishi, straining her. Even now he could sense her heart was pounding too hard too often and her blood pressure was unnaturally high. He went back into the wolf healer's mind. She insisted Nishi could not travel until both of them were under control.

'I'll be there as soon as I can,' he told Nishi.

He then mentally warned the fox and the stranger he was coming, much to both of their relief. They relayed the same story he got from the wolf healer's mind.

Hiei got to their camp by nightfall, glad of it. Nishi was sleeping, but was glad to wake up to see him, caste as it had to be.

She sat up on her bed roll at the sight of him entering the tent. She reached her hand out to him, saying his name like a question. He stepped over to her, knelt down beside her, took her hand in his, and kissed carefully as if she were a delicate flower.

"You found us," she whispered with a small smile.

She pushed the sleeping bag over her down so he could see more of her. She was thinner, but round about the middle. He reached his hand down, hovering it over her stomach questioning. She nodded. He placed his hand on her, sensing the two in there. One of them started kicking, making Nishi gasp and let off a little laugh.

The wolf healer asked, "Nanashi, are you alright?" The level of concern in her voice was worrying.

Nishi nodded up at her. "Seven months along, almost eight. That one, I call fire, is the stronger one. The other one is ice." She straightened up. "So did Lord Mukuro send you to get us? You have been named his heir, right? The summons he sent to the king for me to come said you were potentially going to be named his heir." Her tone seemed a bit desperate.

He studied her. She was unwell. He could lie to her, tell what she wanted to hear. It would comfort her, but a lie was still a lie. He went with the truth. "He didn't. I came to find you on my own accord. He also has yet to name me his heir. Six months in a fighting pit of his own making as a trial, and he is still considering it. He's-" he stopped himself. He did not want to say anything he should not reveal about Mukuro, except to Nishi. The wolf healer was still in the room.

"So he doesn't even know you're here?" Nishi asked aghast. "You just took off..." she sighed.

The wolf healer looked more annoyed. "She needs somewhere better than a mountain range where we've been ambushed on the road twice to give birth. We're counting on that being the castle," she pressed.

"Well, now you've got an escort from the castle. That should help at least," Hiei commented. He did understand their pressing worry though. He had left the castle without a word. What if Mukuro saw it as him abandoning his 'chance' to become his heir? What if they arrived at the castle's gates, only to be turned away now? "I'll get her into the castle, one way or another," he determined. Neither woman looked one hundred percent convinced.

The next morning, Nishi insisted she was well enough to travel even though the wolf healer seemed to suspect otherwise. Hiei rode next to her, keeping his guard up to protect her if need be. They had to go slow for her, but they were also racing against time. She needed to get to the castle as soon as possible to give her a safe place to rest and deliver.

They were able to ride the whole day uninhibited by anything or anyone. Hiei would have preferred going faster, but he could tell Nishi did, too. She looked absolutely exhausted. Her eyes had heavy black bags under them. She was skinnier than she should be. Her hair lacked its usual sheen.

In the evening however, Nishi had stop abruptly. She stopped her hippogriff without warning. She slipped off of it, stumbling down to the ground and calling out for the wolf healer. Hiei watched the scene unfold, ignoring the stranger's swearing. Nishi sat herself down on the ground, arms wrapped around her stomach. She was whimpering.

The wolf healer was down before, asking in a rush, "hot or cold?"

"Both," Nishi whimpered out.

The wolf healer stayed next to her. "Breathe through it. I can heal you afterwards, as usual."

Nishi nodded, even as the minutes eked by. The pain had her. One had stayed on her middle, and one hand burrowed its way into her hair, tangling it up. Her breathing kept hitching. The visible part of her face was flushed.

Hiei slipped off of his own stead, coming down next to her. In close proximity, he could sense both the heat and cold coming from her. The heat was stronger. He looked at the wolf healer who was watching Nishi intently. He looked at the stranger and the fox, who were both standing on guard while the women were on the ground.

Nishi finally heaved a sigh of relief. Hiei saw her face and neck were red. She was sweating. The wolf healer reached over to her, hand coming to her middle. The wolf healer was healing her thankfully.

Once finished, the wolf healer brought her hand up to Nishi's neck, frowning. "Too fast," she sighed. "We'll stop here tonight so you can rest-"

"No," Nishi groaned stubbornly. "We need to get Hiei back to Alaric Castle. I can rest there."

The wolf healer shook her head. "We've been over this. If you push yourself too hard, your body might go into labor too early. It's much too dangerous out here in the open for that."

Nishi's breathing had hardly slowed. "If I just keep resting, I'll end up delivering out here anyway." She pulled herself away from both Hiei and the wolf healer. She rose up unsteadily to her feet. She stumbled over to her hippogriff, remounting it determinedly. "We've got at least another hour or two of light left. We can travel a little bit of it at least before making camp." She clicked her heels into the stead's sides before any of them could protest.

Hiei rushed over to get on his own stead, going after her. He hoped the others would follow them soon after. When he caught up to her, he noticed how worn down she looked. "How long have they been burning and freezing you?" he asked her.

She kept her eyes forward. "I started feeling them around four months, but they got debilitating last month. You would have known that if you had kept your promise and stayed in mental contact."

She was annoyed with him at that. "We were out of range of each other, you know that," he explained.

"You should have tried," she grumbled.

"I did," he answered, but with no bite. He did not want to upset her.

She huffed, stifling a yawn he did not miss. "Lord Mukuro will let us in the castle, won't he?" she asked in a worried tone.

"I don't know," he answered honestly, even though it might not put her mind at ease. Quietly, he added, "and she."

"What?" she asked, looking at him.

'She,' he mouthed the word.

She gaped at him. "How do you know that?" she whispered.

"My last opponent in the fighting pit, the osteopath that gave me this," he pointed up to his forehead. She nodded, likely recalling the time he told about that. "I should have killed him and he nearly killed me," he admitted. She seemed to pale at the mention of that. "But Lord Mukuro intervened, putting the both of us in healing tanks he has. She entered my mind and pulled me into hers."

She hummed under her breath, looking slightly jealous. "You two know everything about each then?" He was half irked, half complimented by her jealousy. "Can we do that? After I have the twins of course?"

"Sure," he agreed.

They kept riding, with the others catching up to them after their conversation died. After another hour, Nishi was too tired to keep riding, so they rest for the night.

They kept traveling on and on, at such a slow pace so Nishi could handle it. It was frustrating to watch her have to stop and rest suddenly because she was being frozen or burned from the inside. It took them seven days to reach the castle's gates. Hiei felt like he should have been relieved to get there, but there was an inkling of fear that they might be turned away. Nishi would not be able to take much more traveling at this rate.

They reached the main gate late in the afternoon. He expected guards to be there but was rather surprised to see Mukuro, face uncovered waiting for them with the masked one, her right hand man still. Behind them Hiei could see the gates were locked.

"A woman," he heard the stranger comment. At the very least, she was allowing herself more freedom.

Hiei led the lot of them up to Mukuro, unease icy in his stomach. They stopped a good ten feet away from Mukuro. Hiei dismounted his hippogriff and helped Nishi to do likewise. She looked at him, biting her lip nervously. He took her by the hand, leading her over to stand with him before Mukuro. Nishi bowed respectfully to her, but Hiei stayed stiff back. If she denied them entry, then there would be no sycophanting to her.

"Hello again, Hiei. You left in the early hours of the morning," Mukuro commented. "Why was that?" she pressed.

She already knew why. It was obvious, especially with Nishi standing before her. "I think you can tell that my wife that you sent for is quite pregnant, and was delayed on the road," he answered.

"I told you I would send someone out looking if they were more than twelve days late. You ran off far sooner than that." Mukuro's gaze cut from Hiei to Nishi. Hiei sensed Nishi's stiffen, hoping she would not falter at such a harsh gaze. Her free hand snuck protectively around her middle. Hopefully neither child would decide to burn or freeze her in that moment. Mukuro spoke in amusement, "the angel, which fell from the sky and rescued the crown prince."

"Yes, my lady," she answered back, using the wrong address to appease Mukuro.

"My lord," Mukuro corrected with slight shortness in her tone.

"My lord," Nanashi answered, correcting herself.

"Step closer," Lord Mukuro commanded.

Nishi stood up straighter, dropping her hold on Hiei's hand. She took her other hand off of her middle, leaving her hands to rest at her sides. She walked up to Mukuro, stepping as close as she dared to the woman standing over her. She bowed as low as she could to her, as much as her swollen stomach would allow. Mukuro kept her eyes trained on Nishi. Hiei felt a sense of unease, realizing whether or not they might get back into the castle now depended on Nishi. Much to his impression, she kept her breathing calm, eyes held respectfully low.

"Seven months pregnant?" Mukuro asked.

"Yes, my lord," Nanashi answered, trying not to sound mousy. "Nearer to eight now."

"Rather large for that," Mukuro commented.

"Twins, my lord," she answered quietly.

"Twins," Mukuro commented dryly. "Quite a stroke of luck to have not one, but two children on the way."

Nishi looked uncertain, as she did not know what to make on that comment, or how to respond appropriately. She had to have clued in by now how much was riding on her in this conversation. "Yes, my lord," she said humbly.

Mukuro held her gaze on Nishi's stomach. "A fire elemental and an ice elemental," she revealed. "Hard to endure?"

Nishi kept herself speaking, confiding, "at times difficult when one freezes and one burns."

Mukuro studied her yet. "Do you know the genders yet?"

"Yes, my lord. My nurse," she gestured back to the wolf healer, "confirmed that fire is a girl and ice is a boy."

Hiei had heard that reveal before, still hoping the wolf healer was wrong about one of them being a girl.

"Hmm," Mukuro hummed. "It is getting late," she spoke louder, addressing the rest of them. "We should retire before nightfall. I imagine the whole lot of you are worn out from your journey, especially the mother to be. Kirin, make sure the servants set up rooms for them. Hiei and his wife are to go to his rooms. Dinner shall be in a in two hours."

Mukuro turned away from them, unlocking the gate herself. She sauntered away from them, the right hand on her tail. Only then did Nishi allow herself a chance to heave a full body sigh of relief.


	58. Chapter 58

Nanashi was exhausted, but so grateful Lord Mukuro took them in. Not only that, but also that she still wanted Hiei as her heir. Potential or 'a chance' or not, if anyone was going to get it after Lord Mukuro passed, it would be him.

Asa put Nanashi on bed rest in Hiei's and now her rooms. They were large and spacious, as befitting a lord's heir. He had to get it, he absolutely had to. She was not without company at least. Lord Mukuro's healer, Daiki, a fellow demon, was checking on her in tandem with Asa. He had a curious amount of questions about her, saying he had never met a human nor an angel before and was rather curious of her physiology.

Hiei stayed with her as often as he could as well, when he was not off doing things for Lord Mukuro. When they were completely alone, he told her things about Lord Mukuro in whispers and mental communications. Lord Mukuro was old, over 500 years old. Older than any other demon had ever been. Born into slavery in the time of the current King Hayate's grandfather. She had been mate claimed by the man, at least that's what her memories told her, who claimed to be her father. That was before mate claiming was outlawed. When Lord Mukuro had enough of his yearly rape and torture, she happened upon a vat of acid, disfiguring herself and destroying all her mate claim bite marks. She was deemed to hideous by her father/mate and was thrown out of his palace.

From there she rose up from the rank of a slave to taking over a lordship and territory from its former lady whose children had all died. The old woman was so senile, that it was easy to trick her into giving the territory up. Her guard, not so much, yet they were easy to take over and kill off.

As the years passed though, Lord Mukuro had noticed she was getting old herself. Because of that, she sought out a black crone to give her a life span transference from hapless victims she caught so she could live longer. Her goal had been to live forever like this, still life span after life span, until one day, a few months prior, the plan backfired. The usual black crone she hired had been killed off, so she sought one out from the Gandaran Forest. The same black crone that Hiei had been given to. That black crone double crossed Lord Mukuro, taking all the years that remained in her instead of giving her more from the victim she had procured. When Lord Mukuro realized what had gone awry, she killed the black crone and the victim in vengeance.

Yet now Lord Mukuro was stuck with months left to her. She had to face her mortality for the first time in decades, prompting her to seek out an heir. Which lead to the two who had died trying, and now Hiei was to be her heir, if she chose him. Nanashi wished the woman would hurry up and make it officially that he was the heir.

Kurama and Yasha had left to go back to the capital, but they had also visited her during the few days they rested up and recuperated from their tiresome journey. Those were not all her visitors though. Lord Mukuro also visited, watching her and asking her questions. Nanashi felt intimidated by her, even as she tried not to show it too much, challenging herself to stay respectful like Haruto had taught her to be when she worked for him.

Hiei kept telling her not to worry about Lord Mukuro and her questions, even though some of them made her feel uncomfortable. At least Nanashi was safe in the castle, under Lord Mukuro's protection and with Hiei. It was not safe for her to do much beyond cuddling, but it was a vast improvement over the near seven months of separation.

Asa also pointed out Nanashi was recovering her strength better and was resting up well for her delivery of the twins. Her blood pressure was lessened and her heart pounded less and less. She was able handle the internal burning and freezing better than she had when she was traveling on the road.

It was such a good thing to, considering two weeks after they had arrived at the castle, she went into labor, shortly after breakfast. She had been with Asa in Lord Mukuro's library, browsing for more books to read while she rested. She felt a sharp, ripping twinge in her lower abdomen, making her drop the book the holding to wrap her hands around her stomach. She also suddenly felt embarrassingly wet.

Asa was next to her in an instant, telling her, "breathe. Breathe through it. It'll pass."

Nanashi stood next to her, trying to focus on calming her breathing. It was painful, but not as painful as the burning and freezing had been. This was manageable, even though it had caught her by surprise. She knew more pain was to come, but she felt a surge of confidence that she could ride through it.

Asa got her up to the room Daiki had prepared for her to give birth to. It did not take long for Daiki and Hiei to get to them as well. It seemed like the fear of the pain was more intense than the actual pain itself. Asa often had her get up and walk around the room, which Nanashi was more than willing to do as it helped her with her excess, tense energy.

The first four hours were manageable to her. Lord Mukuro kept her distance, which Nanashi preferred. Only Kirin came once to check in Lord Mukuro's stead to see that Nanashi was indeed about to give birth.

After the four hour mark however, the pain dialed it up for her. She started shouting and crying at the pain. It was now worse than the burning and freezing. At least the twins were not changing the temperature on her in the midst of this. The pain was more intense and wore on her. Nanashi refused to leave the bed and walk, even though Asa tried to convince her otherwise. Each contraction that went through her was more painful than the last. Each time, Hiei asked about it, Daiki would explain that it was normal and everything was proceeding as expected.

When six hours of labor had passed since her labor had started, Nanashi was ready to give birth. Asa stood on one side of her, while Hiei stood on the other. Daiki stood in front of her, checking her over.

Daiki informed her, "both babies are facing downward. The right one is going to come first."

'Fire,' Nanashi thought to herself.

Daiki kept talking, "get ready to push." Nanashi took a few deep breaths, tightening her grip on Hiei and Asa's hands. "Alright, Nanashi, push," he instructed. Nanashi bared down and pushed.

"Breathe, sweetness," Asa advised. Nanashi gulped down deep breaths.

"Push, " Daiki instructed her.

Nanashi focused all her energy on just pushing, using the newest contraction to her advantage, Three pushes had Fire born, wailing loudly. Daiki had her in hand, wrapping her up, and cut her cord with ease. He had her up to Nanashi for her to cradle within a matter of second of being born.

Nanashi held her close, not really sure she could believe this warm infant girl in her arms was her child. The flare of love flitted up inside of her. She noticed as well that the girl had a tiny, semi see through red coil around her neck. An elemental serpent.

"Hikari," Hiei said a loud, naming the name they had decided on together.

Once Nanashi had bonded with Hikari, she reluctantly passed her off to Asa to check her over and clean her up. Nanashi watched her as best she could from her roost on the birthing bed.

"Nanashi," Daiki said, catching her attention. "Time for the second one."

'Ice,' Nanashi thought to herself. She nodded, not trusting her voice.

They repeated the process, but the second child came out with only two small pushes that were not as difficult. Daiki had him in hand, cord cut, and over to arms with more ease than the girl.

"Izo," Nanashi whispered the name of the boy they had decided upon.

He was cold to the touch, but manageable. She felt a flare up of love for him that was just as strong as her love for his sister. She felt a swell of pride when she saw he had his own, semi blue coil around his neck. Both of them had elemental serpents. Their angelic traits were out in the forefront.

When it was time for him to be checked by Asa, Nanashi passed him off groggily. She could trust Asa with them, she knew it. Daiki joined Asa, checking the twins over. Asa had picked up Izo, checking him over, seeing if he was breathing properly. She felt doubt flushing through her though when she heard Hikari start crying loudly.

"Are they okay?" Nanashi called over to Asa.

Asa turned back to her. "Yes, perfectly fine," she said over the cries. Asa laid Izo back down next to Hikari, who stopped crying after that. Asa gave a small laugh. "I don't think she much liked having her brother too far away from her."

Daiki stepped away from the twins and Asa and over to Nanashi, finishing up with her. She felt such an interesting wave of release when he healed her up as well. Once done, Nanashi felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her. "Textbook perfect," he complemented to her. "You can take a rest now. We'll look after them while you do."

Nanashi felt the exhaustion and relief wash over her. She began crying, unsure why. She turned towards Hiei, clinging to him in a sudden urge to be near him. She sobbed against his chest. He brought his arms around her tightly, one on the back of her head and one on her back.

"Mine," he whispered down to her.

Daiki touched her lower leg, making her jump, pulling away from Hiei. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you in pain, or just tired?"

Nanashi felt a little of both, but answered, "tired."

Daiki straightened up, smiling over at her confidently. "Textbook perfect," he told her. "Just as I expected." Daiki stepped away from her and over to where they had a blanket laid aside for her.

He threw it over her, starting to cover her up with it. Hiei shooed him out of the way, taking over covering her up. Once he did so, she took his hand, holding it. He looked over at her, smirking and looking quite pleased. She raised her groggy head up to his, kissing him chastely. She then laid her head back down on the bed, allowing herself to doze off, trusting in those around her.


	59. Chapter 59

Nanashi slept on hard after giving birth to the twins. Giving birth seemed to be the most exhausting part, but not the most painful part. She woke up with a start in the middle of the night. It was dark in the room, making her unsure what time it was. She sat up, blinking in the darkness, trying to figure out what had unsettled her enough to wake her up. She noticed two mismatched eyes watching her from the middle of the room. She gasped, summoning up her wind dragon around her neck cautiously. She did not want to run any risk with being in Lord Mukuro's castle, not yet getting to know the other demons under her roof.

"Cautious," Lord Mukuro's voice echoed in the room.

Nanashi felt her guard drop, but only slightly. She heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to her. Nanashi watched the best she could in the lack of light, staring hard at where Lord Mukuro might be in the room. She could hear her breathing close by now.

"Is there anything you need, my lord?" she asked tiredly. She felt the desire to nod off, but needed to be awake and respectful now. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She felt the wind dragon stir on her neck. She felt the desire to get up and turn on the light.

"You look exhausted," Lord Mukuro commented to her.

'No kidding,' the wind dragon commented sarcastically. Nanashi ignored it.

"Yes, my lord," Nanashi answered a loud.

'Tell her to go away and stop creeping up on you so you can sleep,' the wind dragon suggested.

Nanashi kept her mouth closed, not willing to repeat that comment verbatim. "It does realize I can hear its comments?" Lord Mukuro questioned.

Nanashi bit her lip, feeling confused as to what she should do or say now. 'Go away for now, please,' she told the wind dragon.

It hissed loudly, making her ears ring almost. She wished it had not done that. "My apologies, my lord," she spoke.

"Protective," Lord Mukuro commented. "You've had that creature grafted to your soul for a while now. Had you not be angel blooded, you would have certainly perished."

Nanashi thought back to when the wind dragon was grafted to her soul. The shock of what happened overshadowed the pain she remembered going through. The pain was worth it though to get the wind dragon. Just like the pain was worth it to have the twins.

"Which ordeal was more painful?" Lord Mukuro asked. Nanashi could hear her shuffling her feet.

"Both..." she mused. "The twins... it took longer." She longed for sleep, but did not dare close her eyes.

"Months of burning and freezing while your husband was here fighting for his life to prove himself, must have been difficult," Lord Mukuro mused in an uneasy tone. "Yet you endured it and survived it. Someone weaker would have died."

"Yes, my lord," she replied softly.

"Stop that right now," Lord Mukuro snapped suddenly very loudly at her. Nanashi gasped, not expecting to be spoken to like that. "Your husband refuses to be respectful unless he deems it has been earned first. You sit there trying to overly dull it out to balance him out. You're still worried about him possibly being named my heir. You think you may be able to sway me to him if you cow-tow like a sycophant. All the while, still jealous I chose him over you."

Nanashi felt desperate now to have a light in the room, but felt to apprehensive to try to rise up in light of the pain she still felt in her abdomen and the harsh truth Lord Mukuro just told her out loud.

"Better him than me, my-" she bite her tongue, trying to keep herself from addressing Lord Mukuro directly. "Better him than me."

"Do you think I would have chosen you if you weren't pregnant?" Lord Mukuro asked in a bemused voice. Nanashi felt herself unnerved.

"You made the choice and I will respect that," Nanashi stated, trying to stay respectful still.

"Answer the question," Lord Mukuro ordered.

Nanashi thought about it. She thought about how Kurama and Yasha were not chosen because they were too close to the king and queen. She was not chosen because of her pregnancy. Hiei was stronger than she was though, there was no denying that. He was demon blooded. He was an undefeated pit fighter. "No," she voiced her realization. "You made the wisest choice."

She heard Lord Mukuro almost growl at her. "You're loyal to him, loving him."

"Yes," she answered, wondering at the shift of conversation.

"Yet secrets are being kept," Lord Mukuro commented in an amused voice.

Nanashi bit her lip, thinking about Jin and about writing his name down. She kept that a secret, unwilling to reveal it anyone beyond the king and queen, especially not Hiei. "I chose him," Nanashi stated it as clear as she could while her throat felt constricted.

"Likely you think you made the right choice, even as you sit and wondering a little if I made the correct choice," Lord Mukuro said. "He is weak in his own way, just as you are weak in your own. At least the two of you balance each other out... Which of your two children was born first?"

"Hikari," Nanashi answered. Thinking about her, and about Izo made her desire to see them.

"The girl? The fiery one?" Lord Mukuro asked for clarification.

"Yes, my lord," Nanashi slipped out.

Nanashi then heard the sound of footsteps clacking through the room. Last, was the sound of the door opening and shutting with a quiet click. She breathed a drowsy sigh of relief.


	60. Chapter 60

Two weeks after Nanashi gave birth, she was surprised to find out the king and queen were coming on official procession to Alaric. It felt like such a rush for them come here, now like that. She figured it might be to check on Hiei's status as Lord Mukuro's prospective heir.

When it came to taking care of the twins, Nanashi liked that Asa and Hiei were free to help her, as well as four nannies employed by Lord Mukuro. Hiei even mentioned that Lord Mukuro had been in there a few times with him when he was taking care of them. Nanashi felt slightly nervous about Lord Mukuro being in there, but at least Hiei was with her.

It took two additional weeks for the king and queen to arrive with their whole entourage that included Haruto, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Yasha. Haruto was rather ecstatic at the sight of the twins, cooing over them. Nanashi liked the sight of it, considering he had never gotten to be like that for her until recently. When the king and queen came to see them though, she felt like they looked at Hikari a little too oddly.

Once the king and queen had settled in the Alaric Castle the first day, the irritable Lord Mukuro called a feast for them in the evening, but she herself did not attend it. Hiei was late to the meal, making Nanashi wonder where he might be The king took the lead during the feast, while Nanashi sat with Yusuke and the others at the end of the king's table. She saved a seat for Hiei next to her, waiting for him to come and fill it. Yusuke was chattering away about gossip from the capital city. Yasha even added his own gossip about the possibility of a romance flaring up between Jiro and Ayane, but that he did not think it would last as Jiro thought Ayane beneath him.

Half way through the meal, Hiei appeared at Nanashi's side, making her jump. "Hiei, there you are," she said, turning to face him. She noticed he looked irritated. "What's wrong?" she asked, taking his hand in hers.

He slipped his hand from hers, settling himself down in the empty seat next to her. She noticed there was a circle burn or a rip in his shirt in the middle of it. She frowned at the sight of that, too. "Mukuro's not enjoying herself today of all days," Hiei told her quietly.

"Because of the king's presence?" Nanashi asked in a soft tone.

"He's not helping any," Hiei commented. "At least the gift I gave her has given her something to enjoy..." Hiei looked over at Kurama who was sitting across from him. Nanashi noticed their exchange, but let it pass. He turned back to Nanashi. "Mukuro is going to make an announcement tomorrow," he added.

Nanashi felt a stir of excitement. "She'll finally name you her heir?" she pressed. She did her best to keep her voice down.

"Either that, or she tell the king to go fuck himself," Hiei said with a smirk.

Kurama chuckled softly at that comment. Yasha had been listening in as well, as he laughed loudly at the statement. It shattered the semi privacy of the conversation.

The rest of the night passed without anything else exciting happening. The next morning after breakfast though, Lord Mukuro summoned Nanashi, Hiei, the king, the queen, Kirin, and the rest of her small council. They met in her presence chamber, with the king at least respectfully allowing her to take the head of the table as it was her castle and her meeting she called.

Once everyone was settled in and greeted, Lord Mukuro rose up, speaking loudly, addressing those in the room. She announced that she wished to name the heir to her territory. She cited that other lords in the past who had no children were allowed to name their own heirs, both related and not related to them.

Lord Mukuro "... I on the other hand, do not have a direct descendant, nor a mate..."

'A mate you wish anyone to know about,' the wind dragon thought within Nanashi's mind. She shushed it internally.

"... so if there were something to happen, I'd rather not die in the fear of this territory being torn apart and delve into conflict and war. So I in this vein, I've decided to name my heir," she paused, cruelly.

Nanashi held her breath, willing her to state Hiei's name.

"I name Hikari, the daughter of Nanashi and Hiei," Lord Mukuro named, standing straight back and looking smug.

The silence settled over the room for heavy seconds. Nanashi studied Lord Mukuro, wondering what she was thinking, naming an infant as her heir in place of Hiei. He had been the one fighting, he had been the one who connected with her... Nanashi thought over her odd midnight conversation with her. She said Hiei was weak in one way, and she herself weak in another way. Yet why name a child hardly a month old?

"Wait, it's that a baby?" Yasha said, shattering the silence in the room.

"There's nothing that say I can't," Mukruo replied. "No law, no research, no customs that would deny my choice of heir. And I want to name a female, be it of any race or all four, as my heir. With a female line of succession to be established after her."

A female line... Nanashi mulled that over in her mind. Yet in their country, it was the old child that inherited a title from a parent, be they male or female. Favoring one gender or another seemed wrong to her.

Nanashi sat next to Hiei, noticing the blank poker face her wore. He had to be raging internally, he had to be. After all he went through, just for it to be passed over in place of his daughter like that. She worried he might try to bolt, so she seized his hand under the table, holding it tightly in her lap. He could not run, she would not let him run this time.

Nanashi watched silently, listening intently. Over an hour of arguments occurred, but Lord Mukuro brushed them all aside. She named this lord or that lady in history who had named the heir they wished. She even cited the lady whom she had taken Alaric over from. Not even the queen could sway her. Even Yasha tried.

After the hour, Mukuro asked, "any more objections to my naming Hikari as my heir?"

Nanashi sat in stony silence as those in the room gave in one by one, conceding to Lord Mukuro's decision. When it was finally over and they were all dismissed, Kirin and Hiei were asked to stay with Lord Mukuro as the others left.

Nanashi waited outside the room by herself, pacing to and fro. That waiting was another hour. She heard raised voices a few times, but was only sure once that it was Hiei speaking.

Nanashi sat on the floor waiting tiredly. She stood up in a rush as she saw Hiei come out of the room. "Don't run," she requested in a rush.

His eyes got wide when she said that, and then narrowed. "Our rooms then," he said, hinting to her where she could find him later on before he flitted away.


	61. Chapter 61

The castle seemed so quiet when everyone left when King Hayate did. Nanashi was sad to see some of them go, especially Asa and Haruto. She could not blame them though. She knew if she begged the two of them to stay, they would have, but it would have been too selfish of her. They were wanting to make a life together in the capital, where Asa had lived for decades. Plus, Haruto had started a new business and needed to keep it afloat.

Nanashi had taken up work in the library for Lord Mukuro when not looking after the twins with the other two nannies. Lord Mukuro thought that job would be fitting for her.

That was when one of the other workers in the library announced that Hiei was outside, fighting with Lord Mukuro. Nanashi rose up, jogging towards the closest window that should the front of the castle to see if it was true. She looked out, seeing Hiei standing before Lord Mukuro, panting. Both of them looked like they had been fighting. She swore under her breath. This could ruin everything.

She opened the window, jumping out of it. She summoned up her wind dragon's wings and landed softly on the ground. She summoned the wings away, running towards the two who were fighting.

She managed a few yards before she got tackled sideways. She slammed into the ground with something heavy on top of her. Her teeth rattled painfully in her jaw.

She felt the weight rise off of her. She rolled, standing up and facing whatever it was, wind dragon around her neck. She paused just for a second when she saw Kirin. He shook his head at her wordlessly.

She heard shouts behind her. She saw Hiei and Lord Mukuro at each other again. She turned her back on Kirin, ready to run again. Kirin did not let her get that far. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her back. "You're not to interfere with their conversation," he growled at her.

"Conversation?" she said aghast. That was a fight, not a conversation.

She struggled against him, telling her wind dragon to strike him, but not kill him. The wind dragon went for his face, but was unable to do any damage to the mask he wore. She felt the ring of the wind dragon's teeth strike uselessly.

"Let me go," she hissed at him. She looked over at the two of the fighters. Hiei was charging at Lord Mukuro, sword out and swinging so fast she could barely see each stroke. It almost made her dizzy to watch. "I said let go," she growled at him.

She twisted fruitlessly in his arms, much to her avail. She raised foot up, slamming it down on his instep. She heard him grunt, which was a good sign. His arms loosened. She went boneless, feeling her gravity make her slip under the taller Kirin's grip. She was free, but he might still try to stop her.

She wheeled around, punching him in the jaw. It made him stagger, but it made her wince and draw her tender right fist over to her chest. She rubbed it gingerly as the pain throbbed in it. She tried to open her hand, but it was too painful.

Kirin kept moving while she was standing and wincing. He had stepped between her and Hiei and Lord Mukuro, arms raised in front of him. Nanashi looked around behind him. Lord Mukuro was in the air, shooting several red blast of sorts down at Hiei on the ground. He cut them away, but one got him and exploded around him.

Nanashi charged at Kirin, wanting desperately to get around him. Her right hand ached, but she tried to ignore it. She ran towards him and then tried to duck left around him. He was not fooled. He struck her, knocking her to the ground. She growled up at him in fury. She jumped up, panting and wiping at the trickle of blood she felt flowing down her lip. She had to get around him to stop Hiei and Mukuro from fighting.

She summoned up her wind dragon, holding out her left hand towards Kirin. 'Stop him from breathing,' she commanded.

She watched him, feeling a pull on her energy. His hand went to his throat. His eyes went wide in shock and then narrowed. He could not speak, he could not talk, and most importantly, he could not breathe. Nanashi panted as she stared at him unblinking. She could not let him or anything else break her concentration.

A blast of bright red light broke her concentration. She looked over at it, seeing Lord Mukuro punch Hiei in the gut, red light coming out from behind his back. She felt her own stomach drop. She watched him slam into a far away cliff side half way to the top of it. He tumbled down against it as he fell. She lost her concentration on Kirin. She had no clue she lost it until Kirin was on top of her. He had her by her injured right hand, crushing it until she know felt she could not breathe. Her heart pounded, drowning out everything but the pain. It was unexpected and threatened to drown her.

A flash of heat suddenly surrounded the area, bringing both of hers and Kirin's attention over to Hiei and Lord Mukuro. Hiei was still alive, much to Nanashi relief. He stood shakily on his feet. He was summoning up a the black dragon hellfire he had warned her once he had tamed.

She felt her own wind dragon's revulsion internally. It wanted her to flee from the area, away from the hellish energy surrounding them. Every inch, every cell in her body screamed the same. She panicked, trying to pull away from Kirin anew, but to run away rather than stop the fight between Lord Mukuro and Hiei now.

Kirin still had her though. He held fast to her broken hand, clearly with no intention to let her go. "Please," she grunted out. The heat blasted hotter in the area. She could not stand it, would not stand it. "Let me go, please," she pleaded.

"She said not to let anyone interfere," he stated.

"I don't want... want to interfere," she panted. She could not be here anymore, did not want to be here anymore. She wanted to flee as fast as she could, as far as she could.

"Liar," he stated.

Nanashi panted, panic threatening her with the inability to think. Energy pulsed around the area. Hellfire mixed with Lord Mukuro's energy. Without warning, the hellish energy disappeared, making Nanashi breathe a sigh of relief.

She dropped to her knees before Kirin. "I won't interfere," she promised. She felt all of the fight drain out of her.

She knew he had no reason to believe her, yet he did. He let her hand go. She brought it down to her chest, cradling it against her chest. It ached, pulsing with pain. She felt resigned as she watched the fight between Hiei and Lord Mukuro continue.

The two were exchanging blow by blow. She watched resigned as Lord Mukuro three yellow arc by yellow arc around Hiei. They pulsed with their own electric energy. If he was not careful, those could easily cut him down. He dodged them over and over, as they surrounded the two of them.

Then the hellish energy was there again. Hiei had his arm and forehead unwrapped now. The hellish black energy surrounded him, making Nanashi want to run all over again rather than be exposed to it. She heard her wind dragon pleaded all over again in her mind to run from it. Everything angelic in her told her to get up and go. She refused to run though, to leave Hiei alone in the area. She doubled over, covering her left ear with her left hand. She screamed in tandem when he released the dragon on Lord Mukuro, raging against her desire to run away from it. She had to stay. She had to stop the fight. Somehow.

The hellish energy accumulated in the area, making it feel like hell had come to this world. Just when she felt like she could not take it anymore, she felt Lord Mukuro's energy over power the hellish energy. She straightened up, looking up to see Lord Mukuro do battle with the dragon, rending it in half. She watched it split all the way down the middle all over to where Hiei stood, blowing him back down to the ground on his stomach. Lord Mukuro landed before him. Hiei struggled to stand up, staring Lord Mukuro down.

Nanashi watched unblinking, unsure what would happen next. The two of them were too far away to hear. Shakily, she stood up, careful of her injured hand. She felt soaked in a cold sweat. The adrenaline that had been coursing through her was dissipating, being replaced by exhaustion now.

"Brave fool," Kirin commented next to her.

She looked up at him, then followed his line of sight. Broken chinks of circle metal lay on the ground before Lord Mukuro's feet. The old shackle from back when she was a slave, that tied her to her past. The shackle Hiei said she would never remove. He had removed it for her, much to Lord Mukuro's shock.

Then Nanashi watched Hiei stumble towards Lord Mukuro and collapse against her. Lord Mukuro took him in her arms, guiding the two of them down to their knees. Nanashi felt a flare of jealousy burn through her, struggling with that more than even the fear of the hellfire energy.

Nanashi took a tentative step towards the pair, waiting cautiously to see if Kirin would hold her back this time. When he did not try to stop her, she broke into a jog towards them.

Lord Mukuro was now standing, Hiei, unconscious, draped over her shoulder. Lord Mukuro looked at her, without really seeing her. Lord Mukuro turned towards the castle, heading in that direction. Nanashi, unsure what to do, followed after her.

Nanashi kept following after her, down the steps to the chilled basement area. The cold made Nanashi shiver due to the sweat she was soaked in. It was too cold, but she would not retreat. Lord Mukuro entered a room in which held a handful of rejuvenation tanks and other things one might find in a surgeon's office. Doctor Daiki was even there, sitting at a desk surrounded with files and looking over a computer. He jumped up in haste when he saw the three of them enter.

Lord Mukuro did not speak, only cocked her head towards the closest tank. Doctor Daiki moved quickly, opening it up and helping Lord Mukuro strip Hiei down before putting him into it. Nanashi stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, unsure what to do or say. She felt a flash of jealousy rage up inside. It was all she could do not to shout at Lord Mukuro not to touch him. She was worried their fight might have ruined everything. On the off chance it did not, she would not let her jealousy ruin anything either.

"He'll need a few hours, quit damaged," Lord Mukuro told Doctor Daiki. "Whenever he uses his dragon, he often needs to hibernate to recover set it to release when he wakes up naturally."

"Yes, my lord," Doctor Daiki said politely. "Those cuts and bruises are from you though. Why were the two of you fighting?" His question seemed so nosy, but his tone stayed a mixed respectful and curious.

Lord Mukuro grunted in amusement, mimicking Hiei. Her hand went to her unshackled wrist. "It was a long time in coming. He's better for it."

Nanashi bit her tongue, seething. She spoke too familiarly about Hiei. She could not know all of him like she herself did, even if their minds had once interconnected. The love between had to be a more powerful connection than that.

Lord Mukuro spoke again, snapping her out of her jealousy. "See to her hand, Daiki," Lord Mukuro instructed. "She picked a fight with Kirin, injuring it."

Doctor Daiki stepped over to her, asking, "how did you injury it, exactly?" he asked politely. He took her right hand in his two hands. A flow of relief flooded into it.

"I punched his mask when he would not let me get around him," Nanashi answered truthfully. "I was trying to stop their fight. He called their fight a conversation."

Doctor Daiki hummed under his breath, showing he was listening to her. "Once you're done, you can leave," Lord Mukuro instructed.

Doctor Daiki turned to her. "Someone needs to watch him in the tank. Just in case anything happens."

"I'll watch him," Lord Mukuro said, laying a hand on the tank Hiei was in affectionately.

"I'll watch him," Nanashi echoed.

"Do you even know how these tanks work?" Lord Mukuro asked her shortly.

"I..." she started.

"Maybe next time, my dear," Doctor Daiki told her soothingly. He gave her hand a gentle rub before releasing it.

"Daiki, you may leave," Lord Mukuro instructed.

"Yes, my lord," he answered, stepping out of the room and leaving the two of them alone.

The door shut with a resounding click. Nanashi stood stock still, ears straining for any other sound.

"Your jealousy is unbecoming of you," Lord Mukuro said, breaking the silence. Her hand was still on the tank. Nanashi sucked in a breath. She felt heat flare in her gut. "When you were fighting Kirin, if you would call that a fight, it was not enough to make you sweat like that. Your hair is half soaked and I can smell you from here."

"Just leave him... leave him alone," Nanashi hissed out. "My lord," she added respectfully.

"You were scared," Lord Mukuro pressed, hand still pressed against the glass. "When he released his own dragon, you were terrified. You nearly fled. Why is that?"

Nanashi scowled. "I didn't run."

"You wanted to run away," Lord Mukuro pressed. "You've never seen him use that attack before. The angelic part of you sensed the hellish, demonic part of him and was frightened."

"So what?" Nanashi answered.

"Well, isn't that proof right there that a demon should not be with an angel?" Lord Mukuro pressed. "Only another demon?"

Nanashi shook her head. "I love him," she stated confidently.

"And yet you keep a secret from him, locked away. Because you're scared what he'll do if he knew you listed your other lover's name," Lord Mukuro added smugly. "Scared he'll kill him in a jealousy rage." Her hand stroked the glass of the tank affectionately.

Nanashi felt like something snapped in her. She stepped forward, standing toe to toe with Lord Mukuro. "Get your hand off the glass."

"Speaking of jealous rages," Lord Mukuro said with a smug smile.

Nanashi reached up, grabbing Lord Mukuro by the sleeve, yanking her arm down off the tank with more force than she intended. Nanashi let her hand go after that, which ended up being her mistake. Lord Mukuro struck her across the face. Nanashi stumbled against the tank, keeping herself on her feet nearly through sheer will.

The pain across her face stung not alike her hand had earlier. Even the slightest twitch in her face made the bone in her cheek ache. Nanashi straightened back up, wind dragon visible around her neck. She ordered it not to let Lord Mukuro breathe.

Lord Mukuro looked unphased, rounding on her. Lord Mukuro held her hand up, a short yellow light of line crackling in her hand. She threw it at Nanashi, catching her in the stomach. Nanashi flinched, feeling it cut into her like a thin, sharp blade. Her shirt felt wet there. She felt herself lose concentration in tandem with the small cry that escaped her throat.

Lord Mukuro moved towards her, and vice versa. They met in the middle. She slammed her smaller body into Lord Mukuro, pushing her back. Lord Mukuro met her in kind, turning and shoving her into Doctor Daiki's desk side first. The computer rocked precariously. Papers on the desk shifted and some fell to the floor. She winced when her hip made bruising contact with edge of the desk. She hissed under her teeth, moving towards Lord Mukuro once more, throwing her weight leading with her shoulder. It worked to drive Lord Mukuro back into an unoccupied healing tank. She threw a handful of punches that communicated her anger, but all were blocked.

She panted, taking a step back to summon up her wind dragon. She launched herself up at Lord Mukuro, surprisingly unblocked. She pressed her forearm against the front of Lord Mukuro's throat. She ordered her wind dragon to bite, but to hold its teeth in Lord Mukuro's flesh only.

"What's the matter, can't kill me?" Lord Mukuro choked down at her. She pressed harder against Lord Mukuro's neck, though her arm started to shake. "You've killed before. Lesser demons, doxies, a thunderbird, even the elder Toguro brother. Why hold back?" Lord Mukuro brought her hand down. She heard a crackling sound just before she something burn against her side. Lord Mukuro held a shard of yellow against her side. It cut only slightly into her side, but could gruesome damage if shoved into her. She winced, fighting against herself not to pull away. "You're a killer, but have never killed in cold blood. Even when you were possessed by an evil spirit. Have never desired it beyond your desire to survive. It's more enjoyable that way." She closed her eyes, holding the wind dragon back from killing her. "Look at me," Lord Mukuro demanded sharply. She looked up, trying to look mean. "A demoness would mean it. Yet if you sent air into my blood now, I would slice you half and watch you die before I succumb from your attack. That would leave him to awaken to find both of us dead before him."

She did not want to back down, even as her heart thudded against her rib cage. "He's mine," she growled before summoning her wind dragon back to her own neck and bringing her arm off of Lord Mukuro's neck. She wished she had the courage, the wherewithal to kill Lord Mukuro like she wanted to.

Lord Mukuro took her shard away, shaking her hand so it uselessly fell to the ground, striking a gash in it. Lord Mukuro then leaned against the empty tank behind her, arms crossed over her chest. "He is, indeed," Lord Mukuro conceded. She looked up. "Not any demon would surrender himself not once, but twice for any young fool, regardless if you managed to get him rescued. He tried to force you away more than once, onto his own uncle even, but you pushed your way back to him. Pushed him to sleep with you when you made it clear that was the only way he could keep you. So he bound you to him in marriage and with the bite he dared to make. Yet back then he did not have the choice he once could have. There was only you who wanted him, so you wore him down. Had he had the choice in front of him a year ago, he would have chosen differently."

She felt a rage wash over her all over again, but she did not want to lock it away this time. "What does it matter! You're dying! You fucked up trusting a new dark crone and she took away the rest of your years when you were striving for immortality! Have much longer do you have anyway?!"

Lord Mukuro kept her face unreadable. It was eerily familiar. "You had a choice. More than two. Likely more if the king would have let others pursue you. A lord, a stable master..."

"I chose him and he chose me," she pressed, hating the undertones Lord Mukuro was spinning.

"He honored his prior choice," Lord Mukuro said with a condescending sneer.

"I hate you," she snarled, wanting to throw a harsher insult, but after years of Haruto teaching her to hold back hateful words was still ingrained in her.

"The feeling's mutual," Lord Mukuro grunted. "You let your emotions guide you too much. You have never survived six months like he did," she cocked her head over to where Hiei was.

"Yes, I would have," she insisted, checking herself as she caught her anger fueling her brave words.

Lord Mukuro raised her hand up into the air, snapping her fingers. A black, empty circle opened up underneath her. She felt her stomach drop and panic dwelling. She could not fathom why she had not fallen through it. Lord Mukuro snapped her fingers again. Solid ground came back under her feet. Relief washed over her. "You were scared and it would have been the death of you." She shook her head, but stopped and scowled when Lord Mukuro laughed at her. After her laughing died down, Lord Mukuro took on a more somber face.

"Then why chose my daughter for your heir if I am such an emotional coward," she spat sarcastically.

"She's the eldest. Also, maybe she can balance out yours and Hiei's weaknesses and strength. Should be interesting," Lord Mukuro explained with a nonchalant tone. The shift in tone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "You do love him fiercely though, I'll give you that. You must never rescind it from him."

She frowned, blinking up at Lord Mukuro at the odd shift in conversation. "What?"

"No matter what he has done or will do, you cannot turn him away from you, no matter what," Lord Mukuro pressed.

"What...?" she asked.

"Promise me," Lord Mukuro insisted. She looked so intense.

She could not fathom how or how much this fight turned conversation has twisted and turned. It made her suddenly uncomfortable being alone with Lord Mukuro. "I promise," she agreed.

Lord Mukuro straightened up, walking towards her with confidence. She drew a sharp breath, bringing her guard and wind dragon up. Lord Mukuro stood looming over her much too closely. "Teach your daughter to be stronger than the both of you." Lord Mukuro brought her hand up to her shoulder, clasping it. Lord Mukuro headed towards the door after that. "I'll send Daiki back into you to heal you once more and look after Hiei."

When Lord Mukuro left the room, she sucked down several breaths, hardly comprehending what of all just happened.

'She's unhinged,' the wind dragon commented. Nanashi did not think to disagree otherwise.

When Doctor Daiki came in and saw her, he rushed over to her instead of his disarrayed desk. "My dear, what happened?" he asked, stepping over to her to heal her face and stomach unbidden. Nanashi shook her head, feeling too weary to answer, ieven if she wanted to. Doctor Daiki sighed. "Two of you picking a fight with her in the same day."

"She started it," she answered mousily.

"Likely you struck first. They always do. Mind readers do have a tendency to know exactly how to push someone's buttons. She's no exception," he replied.

He turned away from her and went over to his desk, sighing as he bent down to gather up the scattered papers. She stepped over next to him and knelt, helping him. "Is she... alright...?" She grasped for an appropriate, but polite word.

Doctor Daiki straightened up, setting his handful of papers on the table. He began to sort them into three neat stacks. "She's been self closeted, keeping to herself for so long, centuries. Hardly willing to let anyone know her gender, let alone her real self. Trapped in the past but desperate to flee from it. How would you feel?"

She hummed under her breath. "Probably worse when you both abruptly face mortality and make a genuine connection with another person..." She looked over at the tank Hiei was suspended in. He had promised her once to connect mentally with her the same way Lord Mukuro had with him. To share life's memories with one another. "How did they do it?"

"Do what?" Doctor Daiki asked.

"How did they make that connection? How did they share memories?" she questioned, stepping closer to Hiei's tank.

"Well, to share memories like they did, at least one of them has to be a telepath," Doctor Daiki explained. She nodded, knowing Hie was one. "It's easier with two telepaths. They can both handle the neural load. Non-telepaths struggle with it. Chase the rabbit so to speak."

She had reached the tank. "What if... how might one of them hold back a memory... from being shared?" He was still suspended in the liquid, eyes closed. She could hear the machine sounds humming nearby.

"The person simple imagines it locked away in their mind before the memories are shared," Doctor Daiki explained simply.

She felt her heart pounding, echoing in her ears. She imagined her explicit memories of Ruka and Jin locked away, as well as her memory of writing down Jin's name for the king and queen. Locking those memories away together would lessen his suspicion.

"That's it?" she asked.

"Simpler than it sounds," Doctor Daiki responded. "The telepath's got to be willing though."

She looked back at Doctor Daiki, seeing he was too focused on reorganizing his papers. She turned back. She took a deep breath, reaching up and touching his tank. His Jagan Eye was uncovered, but he was unconscious. She clumsily reached her mind out to him all the same, feeling self conscious about it. She watched him as she offered herself to him. She held back a gasp as she saw the center of his forehead light up a bright lavender color. She felt drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

Her mind felt aflame. So many memories flowed into her mind at once. All of them were not hers. She panicked at the feeling of being thrown from a cliff as a newborn. A mix of blood lust, the urge to become stronger, and the desire for revenge being the sole focus of one's childhood. The memories tumbled over and over around her. They were not hers, but they felt like it. With the memories came the emotions and feelings. She had her own fleeting thought that Lord Mukuro should not of judged her for running emotions when he had in his childhood.

When she hit the memory of getting the Jagan Eye though, she screamed in the present. That pain was the worst, like a drill burrowing into her skull in the past. In the present, she heard Doctor Daiki shout in panic. In the past she felt the overwhelming desire to claw her own eyes out. In the present Doctor Daiki was next to her, yanking her hands away from her face and holding them tightly to her side. She screamed, not sure what to do or what to feel, or where she was.

When the memory faded in the past, she felt bone weary exhausted in the present. She wondered how long she had been laying on the floor, shivering. She could hear Doctor Daiki leaning over, asking what she was doing in the present. In the past, the memories were less painful, more subtle. She reached the fighting pit memories. The thrill, the fear, the challenges. The brief lovers taken, mostly men. The dark fear that consumed her when when she thought about taming the hellish dragon. Had he not controlled the dragon, she would fear him even more. She met the fox for the first time, feeling the surrealness of wanting to fuck him of all things. It caught it her off guard at the hints that it happened a few times even, but thankfully she was spared witnessing that memory. Then she met the stranger, thinking him full of himself, but rather surprised when he managed to seduce the fox.

In the present she could feel Doctor Daiki shaking her, shouting down at her to wake up. She was awake... She was watching other pit fighters she had known get bought out of their debt or die before that could happen. The offer coming from the fake lord to buy him out. The internal conflict over whether or not to accept the offer. He regretted it. She watched the fake lord make a move on her, failing so miserably to force himself on her. It was pathetic. What was worse in shoving that miserable fool off of her lead him to stabbing himself in his own gut.

Doctor Daiki slapped her across the face in the present, making her wince in real time, but nothing else. She saw the ship ride down to her hometown, and meeting... herself... A frightened half-child. Not sure what to make of her, but she had the determination to carry out being forced by her mayor to be his apprentice and guide. How she claimed to be half demon, but then survived doxy toxin. How seeing the procurer in the town and his desire to take her spurred up a desire to protect her. The keeper pushing for him to take her away and marry her to save her from the procurer. The kiss he gave her without planning it and how it spurred his desire to keep her safe. The temptation to abandon her anyway and flee from the procurer. Almost doing that, but then giving himself up to save her, only to watch her be poisoned.

The pain spurred up again. The chronic hunger, the fear of the dark crone, the constant and nagging ache in her hips in the past. She heard herself cry and beg aloud in the present not to be given to the black crone. Doctor Daiki was repeating over and over again that he would never do that to her.

The thought of herself being dead, and yet flying over to him in the night with angel's wings to rescue him. Yet the rescue was botched and she was sent to death anew.

In the past, the memories finally dulled thankfully. She was in the castle, waking up feeling so weak with the girl protective over him. The king taking interest in him. The odd, but easy friendship formed with the king, someone who grew up enjoying watching the fighting pits and had even been a fan of his. All while the desire for the girl was building up in him, almost overwhelming him when they had destroyed the cape of no return with the others.

Her annoyance was in dissonance with the memory when she saw in the past the deal made with the king to all but sleep with her to train her up for the uncle. The almost inability to hold back from bedding her completely. Yet then the mixed emotions from the night she tried to slip him inside of her anyway and the rage he felt at her for that. The jealousy that burned in him when she agreed to marry the uncle and cut him off abruptly. She was better off with the uncle and should have stayed with him. The dissonance within her over that in the present made her growl in frustration.

The hope with her betrothal to the uncle would just be over abruptly and he could disappear. Only to watch the procurer crawl back into their lives, trying a third time to kill her. Volunteering to go in her place, watching for the chance to kill the procurer, but never getting the chance. The procurer would never stop going after the girl so long as she lived. The determination to survive the asinine battle against fifty animals in the fighting pit to determine whether he lived or died. Seeing the girl and others step and fight along side him and all the drama and her near death and the injury that eventually lead to the loss of her wings.

Going within the stadium after the queen. Seeing the queen grabbed the procurer, whisper to him, and then him getting into the cage with the wyvern that ate him. Enjoying not only the reveal of the queen's secret ability, but also the sight of the procurer's gruesome death in the past. In the present, she could not believe this memory true. The queen never did that. She was never that close to the procurer. The desire to not believe the memory made her head ache. Doctor Daiki in the present was back at her, swearing at her, holding a tissue under her nose.

The memories kept moving, even though she was hung up on the one that could not be true. The burning jealousy of watching the wind mage trying to get her to run away with him. The desire to kill the rival even now burned within him. Then in turn her demand for him to sleep with her and him giving in as a ploy to keep her away from the wind mage.

The difficulty of finding out he was the father's son. The fear that shot through her both in the past and the present at seeing the just the uncle's memories of that wretched father. It frightened her, making her want to flee all over again.

The running away from the castle, only to be found by the bomber, rescued by his sister, and fighting with the detective. Going back to the castle and the rush of those memories going by in a fast pace rush. She tried to stick to the memory of meeting with the king the day of their wedding, but it just skipped over to the wedding and the weeks that followed. That moved fast too, in a mix of loved and bliss. Only to be taken away in the desire to take over Lord Mukuro's territory when the woman was dead in the past. In the present, Doctor Daiki had left her side, pounding on buttons and the sounds of machinery and whirls of water.

She sunk into the memories of fighting for months in Lord Mukuro's fighting pit of sorts. How around every corner, every second, or one false move could lead to death. She saw the fight with the osteopath, the certainty of death in that moment. In the memory there was no fear of the death, only sorrow for it ending. In the present, she raged, not wanting to die. She felt her whole body tremble as she resisted any and all desire resign herself to death.

She could heard Doctor Daiki's berating tone demanding she be stopped and the sound of wet and stumbling footsteps in the present. "You gave her those memories and now she can't handle them. Take them back," Doctor Daiki.

She felt like she had slipped under and awakened to the sharing of memories with Lord Mukuro. She felt the memories pause, causing her to blink and resurface into the present. They were not finished, she needed to go back to them and finish them all. Her mind begged for it, even as she opened her eyes. She saw Hiei kneeling above her, hand resting on her forehead. She felt the shock of now hit her. How cold and hard the ground felt underneath her prone body. Every muscle ached like it had been pounded repeatedly. How sweaty and icy her skin felt. How sticky and stinging her face felt, especially under her nose. The sickening taste of blood on her lips and in her mouth.

"Sleep," he told her, exhausted, Jagan Eye glowing above her.

"No," she protested, closing her eyes. She raised a shaky hand, gripping his wrist feebly. "Don't take them away," she pleaded.

"Open your eyes," he told her. She shook head, eyes staying firmly shut.

"Why did you give her your memories?" Doctor Daiki demanded close by. "You should have known she could not handle them. She screamed, she cried, she begged, scratched up her own face before I could stop her, and she even seized at one point. Take them away. She can't handle them."

"I wasn't conscious," Hiei hissed. "I didn't realize what was going on when she made the request," he tone dripped with regret. She felt sharp fingernails suddenly dig into the inside of her wrist. She gasped at the pain, opening her eyes without thinking. He held her gaze, telling her, "sleep," once more.

This time she could not resist.


	62. Chapter 62

No one likes being woken up abruptly, especially when in a much needed hibernation state. Yet that damned doctor did that to Hiei. Pulled the cord of his tank, forcing it to go into emergency shut down and wake up him up. To stumbling wet and twist out of all those cords naked was a shock to a just woken brain. He desired nothing more but to back into the sweet sleep of hibernation. The doctor grabbed him by the arm, seemingly to help him. Hiei shook him off, fist held up to punch him. He froze when he saw Nishi laying on the floor.

She was pale, shivering and laying on her side on the hard floor. Her face was bloodied, from scratch marks around her forehead, eyes, and cheeks, to blood dripping from her nose, and to frothy blood on her lips. Her fingernails were stained with blood at the tips.

He was next to her in a rush, uncaring about the awkward state she was in. The memories he had given her... she had sought them out from him and unconsciously he had given them to her. He had taken in hers as well, but since he had been unconscious, she had been forced to take the whole neural load rather than him taking the brunt of it like he would have if he had been conscious.

Gently, he reached over and touched her chilled forehead. The doctor meanwhile berated him, as if he could not tell what state she was already in and why. "You gave her those memories and now she can't handle them. Take them back," the doctor demanded.

Hiei ignored him, reaching into Nishi's mind, seeing how damaged it was from the onslaught of his memories, and carefully pulled her back out of his memories and to the present. She blinked up at him. One of her eyes was bloodshot, having burst a vein even in there. Her mind needed to rest to recover from damage done. Exhausted though he himself felt, she needed him now to help her finish shifting through his memories before her mind was irrevocably damaged.

"Sleep," he willed her as gently as he could manage.

"No," she protested, closing her eyes and mentally resisting him. She wanted to go back into the memories.

"Why did you give her your memories?" the irritating doctor demanded. "You should have known she could not handle them. She screamed, she cried, she begged, scratched up her own face before I could stop her, and she even seized at one point. Take them away. She can't handle them." Like he could not tell.

"I wasn't conscious. I didn't realize what was going on when she made the request," Hiei hissed back at the fool without looking away from Nishi. She was foolish and stubborn. She should have just waited until Mukuro had passed, and then they could have shared memories with conscious and barring the neural load. She was still awake herself, but with her eyes stubbornly shut. He reached down to her inner wrist and dug his nails into her flesh. She gasped, opening her eyes up to him. "Sleep," he commanded her.

She went limp on the ground so fast he nearly panicked. He sat on the ground, not caring that it felt cold. He pulled her over to him, but stopped. "Heal her," he demanded of the doctor.

"I can't heal her mind," the doctor whined. "Not many healers can. I've heard only the queen and a handful of others can do such a thing."

"Heal her face you fool," Hiei demanded. "Unless you can't even do that as well."

The doctor huffed indignantly, placing his hands on her face, healing all the damage there. He had to reach his hand into mouth to heal her tongue, which she had bitten when she seized. In healing, he did not get rid of the blood left on her face though.

"Get something to wash off her face," Hiei urged, not wanting to see her bloodied like that anymore. He blinked to himself tiredly, wanting to crawl into the nearest bed and sleep until oblivion.

The doctor huffed away, but at least he did as he was told. Hiei took the damp wash cloth the doctor had found away from him, cleaning her face until the every trace of blood was removed. The doctor had huffed away again. Hiei pulled Nishi up, leaning her against him. His hand snaked into her hairline, cradling her head gently. He went to enter her mind, to ease the difficulty of going through his remaining memories, but Mukuro entered his in that moment.

'Come here,' she demanded, sending him an image of herself alone in her bedroom.

On one hand, now that Nishi was asleep and had been through the most difficult of his memories, she could traverse the lest traumatic and more recent ones without much more damage. On the other hand, he did not want to leave her. He had been dumb enough to let her take the memories without protecting her mind from the onslaught. It could have killed her. It would be the least he could do to help her recover. Yet he knew Mukuro wanted him and her death was going to be soon, not wanting to face it alone. She had once told him she expected him to be there, even though he had never promised technically to do so.

'She'll be fine, come here,' Mukuro ordered more firmly.

Hiei looked down at Nishi, hand still holding her head. He looked up, seeing the doctor approaching the two them, blanket in hand. Hiei nodded down at Nishi, telling him to cover her up instead. This cold was nothing to him, but she was shivering here and there in his arms.

'I said come here,' Mukuro demanded angrily.

Hiei blocked her from his mind completely. He shielded Nishi's mind too, just in case. It sickened him to think that it might come to the moment that she might also want the death of rival as he desired the death of the wind mage. She had promised never to harm Nishi or the twins, but not even an hour ago she tried to play off Nishi's insecurities to have a reason to fight her, even after being unshackled from her past.

Hiei looked over at the doctor. "Mukuro needs someone with her. Go," he told him.

"How do you know that?" the doctor asked him. Hiei merely looked at him. "At least take her somewhere warmer."

"I will," he answered softly. "Once she's finished the memories. Now go." The doctor murmured under his breath, but thankfully left the room.

Hiei looked back down at Nishi, entering her mind once more, letting her mind continue flipping through his memories that remained to her. They were easier for her to handle, more recent, less bloody, and more familiar to her. He still did not allow any of them to harm her mind though, baring the neural load of them by himself without any trouble. Once she got through them, her mind went to rest fully, working to recover the damage he allowed to be inflicted.

He laid her down on the floor, taking the blanket from her, standing up, and wrapping it around himself for some form of modesty. He then picked her up in his arms, carrying her from the room. Her head, arms, and legs dangled listlessly. He plan to take her to their bedroom and lay down to rest with her.

He figured that must of been around the time a freed Mukuro passed away.


	63. Chapter 63

Nanashi jumped awake, hearing a loud banging noise and sensing quick movement next to her. She woke with disorienting shock, blinking several times as she sat up on hers and Hiei's bed, in their rooms. She looked up and watched as Hiei was moving off the bed and into their main room. He still was not clothed, being the first thought that registered to her. She pulled herself out of bed at that thought, raising up on shaky feet. She heard hushed voices of Hiei and someone else she could not place. She stepped gingerly toward their main room. Hiei rushed by her in a shocked state, making for his wardrobe. He yanked clothes out of there, pulling them on in a wordless rush.

Nanashi leaned against the door frame, breathing heavily. She closed her eyes. "Go back to sleep," Hiei told her, taking her hand in his to guide her back to the bed. "You should be resting still."

He was walking too fast for her, making her stumble. "Why... no.. what's going on?" she asked, trying to dig in her heels. That stopped him. He went stiff, not looking at her. "What's going on?" she pressed softly.

"Mukuro's funeral," he answered. "Funeral pyre."

Nanashi felt her eyes sting, free hand coming to her mouth. She felt shock coursing through her. It was all she could do not to cry then and there. She merely tugged at his hand, leading him towards the door way of their rooms. It was her turned to lead. She felt exhaustion weary in her bones, steps slow and sluggish. Her hand stayed rooted in his though, tugging him along with looking behind her.

She followed along with the others in the hallways down out to the front of the main yard. She saw Kirin already had the funeral pyre set up, but unlit before them. She saw the nannies with the twins, feeling a huge wave of guilt and neglect for that. She moved towards them, pulling Hiei along with her yet. She dropped his hand when she stopped. She scooped up Izo from his nanny, pulling him into her arms and holding him close. He was awake but calm, head resting against her neck. His coldness seem to awaken her. His hand slipped down to rest on the center of her chest, making her feel a wave of coolness and comfort wash into her, both her chest, but extending up into her head as well. She hardly felt tired anymore.

She saw the other nanny pass the sleeping Hikari over to Hiei on her own volition. He took her without complaint, holding her stiffly. She would impede him running away, that was for certain.

Nanashi kept silent in the back, watching Kirin speak and then light the pyre. She held Izo close, feeling him fall asleep against her chest. It was over so fast, leaving Nanashi to wonder if that was it.

When Hiei stepped towards the castle with Hikari still in his arms, Nanashi and the nannies following suit. He lead the lot of them to the twins' rooms, dismissing the nannies for now and putting Hikari to bed. Nanashi did the same for Izo, unsure what else to do.

When they were finished, Hiei turned to Nanashi, looking suddenly flustered and incised. He shoved her back towards the couch at the other side of the nursery from.

He brought his hands around her, standing over her. "You were the last one to speak with her alive. What did you say?"

"I..." she started, wondering slowing at what he was pushing at. "I gave you those memories, didn't you see them all." She thought back slowly over she and Lord Mukuro last talked about. Her stomach sank as she recalled Lord Mukuro throwing her secret about Jin right in her face. She had not locked that one away with the others. That might be what so suddenly had him incised.

"No, you didn't," he answered. "Only memories that have been slept on can be shared. None from when you woke up were shared. Nor were mine." She felt herself relax a little, in spite of his close proximity. "Show me." She shook her head, not liking that idea. He would see. He would about Jin. She could not let that happen. "Nishi," he whispered in a tight voice. She closed her eyes, speaking fast, recounting all the details except the reveal of her secret. He pulled back from her, straightening up. "She picked a fight with you," was all he said. There was no energy in his voice.

He sighed over her, bending down and kissing her unexpectedly. "Your memories..." she said, not sure how to finish that sentence.

His hand came to her hair, brushing a few stray hairs away from her face. "Your memories," he answered.

She felt his hands come around her neck so suddenly, she flinched in panic. He moved on in spite her reaction, tying a long cord around her neck. She felt something small and hard plop against her chest. He stepped away from her. She looked down at her chest, seeing a tiny, ice blue gem.

She stared at it, at a loss for words. "You found it?" her mouth stumbled over the words. She then remembered his memories, her memories now. She brought her hand up, wrapping it around the tear gem. Lord Mukuro used to wear it hidden around her neck. When he found out, it was continued on with his permission. "You took it back?"

"During the fight," he answered. "Pocketed it."

"She could have stolen it back," she thought out loud. "When you were unconscious..." She wondered if that was what incised Lord Mukuro against her, pushing her over the edge of her desire to fight with her.

"She didn't," he shook his head. "It's yours. Keep it covered up."

She pulled her hand around the tear gem, tucking into her shirt. It rested coolly against the center of her chest.


	64. Chapter 64

*Over eleven years later.*

Hikari slumped her head on the table in front of her. Mother told her to look the information over and learn about the territory she would run one day. Yet this work was tedious, going over information about farming and agriculture in Alaric over the past one hundred years. It was dull. Whoever had done some of this records had atrocious handwriting. It was sloppy, smeared, and faded in some places. Mother tasked her to go through the records and calculate the average yields per crop. Only then could she go outside and train with her brother.

"Keep going," Mother said shortly for like the fifth time. She was over at her desk, sorting through the letters they all had received. Father was nearby her.

Hikari grunted under her breath. Brother was smarter, why could he not do all this instead? She covertly looked over at Mother, who was holding a letter up, studying it with scrutiny. She saw Father watching her as well, moving in and snatching secretly a letter from the pile. He pocketed it underneath his cloak without Mother noticing. He caught her looking though. He gave her a stern look, snapping his fingers once at her. She grimaced, looking back at the book, writing down a number that looked like a fifty.

Hikari stopped, hearing Mother gasp. Hikari looked up, not caring to be covert this time. Mother sat at her desk, hand over her mouth. Father stepped over to her protectively. Numbly, she sat the letter down in front of her, head hung. Hikari stood up, moving towards them. Father's eyes shot up at her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Yusuke won't go," Mother finally said, mentioning Hikari's 'uncle's' name. "His father is dying and he won't go to him..."

Hikari felt confused about what they were talking about. Brother would have figured it out right away, the know it all, solve it all. "Whose dying?" she risked asking.

Father's eyes returned to her. How was it that she had the exact same color of eyes, yet his were able to bore into someone's soul. When she tried to imitate that look, Brother teased her for looking crazy. He shook his head, nodding over to her and to the door, telling her to leave the room. She kept her face calm, but wanted to stay and find out what was going on. She slowly turned back, cleaning up at a slow, but a believable pace.

"I should go to him," Mother said.

"You owe him nothing," Father responded.

"He's dying and alone," she muttered.

"You don't have to go," he retorted.

She looked up at him. "He raised me."

"Hn, hardly. Haruto was more of a father to you in secret than Chosuke ever was in public," Father replied.

Both those names sounded familiar to Hikari. Haruto was the fallen angel who was her maternal grandfather. Chosuke was... "Your uncle in the South in Sarayashiki. He's dying?" Hikari blurted out.

Mother winced at the bluntness of her words. "I'm going."

"Out," Father told Hikari firmly. "You can't. It's too far."

Mother stood up. "Hikari, please step out," she said in a soft tone. "Go train with your brother."

Hikari turned back to her things, cleaning them up with more haste. Father was on her then. He was next to her, taller than she was still. It was unfair considering Brother was almost of height to Mother. She hated being so runtish, especially since she was the oldest. Father took her by the elbow, leading her out to the door. In a surprising turn, he left the room with her rather than shut the door between the two of them.

His hand snaked into his pocket. The letter he stole earlier was still stowed there. "Listen to your mother," he said.

"What's in that letter you took? What's in that letter Mother read?" Hikari asked.

"Go," Father ordered her firmly.

She scowled at him, but stomped away. Being free from all that stupid math and combing over those papers was not even worth it anymore. Parents were too busy keeping secrets.

She was still huffing when she reached the yard where Brother was training. She saw him, tall and broad for an eleven year old. He grew up fast, way faster than she did. He was even more mature than she was physically and mentally. Like his demon genes kicked in early. Bold of him for doing that when he was minutes younger than she was.

He had his ice dragon out. Both of them had inherited elemental serpents from Mother's angelicness. Yet Hikari's fire serpent remained a tiny coil around her neck that could hardly make a dagger, while Brother's was the size of his arm. He was challenging himself to make it bigger and bigger. Hikari's never seemed to grow.

He stopped when he saw her, panting. "What's up?" he asked her.

He hunched himself down on the ground. She explained what she heard and saw to him. He listened to her, eyes pensive. "Mother will get her way," Brother answered.

"She always does," Hikari griped.

Brother gave her a knowing look. "You know that's not true. Except in this case." He looked behind her, smirking.

Hikari turned around, seeing one of the castle staff standing there. "My lady, Izo," the castle staff member said with a bow mostly to her. "Your mother bid me to tell you to go pack your things. You and your family will be going South to Sarayashiki tomorrow. Your mother insists she be with her uncle before he passes away. Your father insists all of you will go."

Brother raised his eyebrows at that. "He insisted that?" He winked Hikari. "The letter?" he asked suggestively.


	65. Chapter 65

Hikari with her family managed the traveling over land to the nearest port fine. She was not the biggest fan of traveling on hippogriff, even though Brother seemed thrilled about it. She was too proud to admit it thrilled her any less.

When they got to the port though, she liked that certainly a lot less. Water. All that water. All that water that stretched out for miles. All that water she would have to be on for days as that was the swiftest way down south. She felt the overwhelming desire to bulk at the idea of getting on that ship Mother had booked passage on for them last minute.

As they boarded, Hikari looked at Father, wondering if he was just as uneasy about being surrounded by all that water like she was. She could not read anything off of him. As she left the ground and onto the gang plank, she squinted her eyes, trying not to see the water on either side. Once they were in the ship, she was glad to not be able to see any of the water. The ground was lilting though under her feet. She did not like it.

Mother lead the way to their rooms in the ship. The had a tiny three bedroom en suite together. Hikari's room was the size of a closet. Brother's room was equal size. Mother and Father's room was not much bigger. Between those three rooms was a small main room with a small bathroom for them to share. Hikari wondered at the size and why Mother did not book them something bigger, something grander. She was the Lady of Alaric after all. Mother was the Angel. She would have had all the sway she needed with those two title to take over the best rooms in the ship.

Before Hikari could utter a complaint however, she felt the ship lurched, he stomach lurching right along with it. She hated it.

Brother came running into her room, all excited. "The ship is leaving port. Let's go see!" He snatched up her hand, pulling her out of the room with him at a run.

She ran with him down the hallway, but as soon as she smelled the salty spray, her stomach felt woozy. She put on a brave face, following along after him still. When they reached the deck, Brother did not stop running. He ran right up to the railing, pushing around the crowd with his larger stature to get on top of it. He leaned over it, waving alongside those around him to the people on the dock.

Hikari felt her breathing start to rush, pulse beating louder in her ear drums. She shook her head, seeing land slowly disappear. Her stomach flipped, her mouth went dry. She did not want to leave land. She did not want to be on this ship anymore. Brother turned his head back and called over to her to come closer, but she shook her head at him. He frowned at her. She felt her stomach heave uncomfortably. Brother left the railing abruptly, moving over to her.

She shook her head rapidly. "I can't be here," she said when he was close enough. "I can't be here," she echoed.

Brother was over to her, "shh, shh," he soothed. "Come on. Back to our rooms," he suggested.

She let him lead her, even as her stomach rolled in time with the floor beneath her feet. "I can't be here," she whimpered, ready to cry. She dug in her heels, not sure where she could go, but just wanted off this ship and away from all of that water. She slipped away from Brother and knelt down on the floor. She put her head between her knees, arms over her head. She felt the ship sway. She whimpered, feeling a few stray tears fall.

"It's only a few days," she heard Brother say to her, kneeling beside her. "You've got this. You don't have to look at the water. I know you don't like seas or rivers or bodies of water in general. Hydrophobia. So being on a ship like this..."

She whimpered, shaking her head at him. "I want to get off," she begged.

"We can't. We have to get to uncle before he passes away. For Mother's sake," Brother explained.

She heard someone approach. "Are you alright, kids?" a man's voice spoke over them.

Brother spoke to him, who ended up being one of the ship's crew. Brother told him their room number, asking for him to tell Mother or Father where they were and to come get her. The crew member was quick to comply.

An eternity of a few short minutes passed with Mother coming to the two of them in a rush. Mother knelt down beside Hikari, fussing over her, "oh my sweetness, are you alright?" She pulled Hikari over to her, hugging her close.

Hikari squirmed out of Mother's grip, bringing herself down to sit down on the ground.

"Hikari doesn't want on this ship. Being surrounded by so much water scares her," Brother answered discreetly.

Hikari huffed, pulling her knees into her chest. "I want off this ship," she griped.

Mother sighed, looking hurt. "I knew you were scared of water. As a babe, you would cry if we tried to bathe you. But you got over that fear. When you were younger, you adamantly refused to swim. Your father's not the biggest fan of water either. I figured by now though, you were old enough to be able to handle your fear."

Hikari scowled up at her. On one hand, she just knelt down and tried to baby her, but then said she thought she could handle her fear. Like her actual age did not occur to her. "I want off the ship. I can travel on land and meet you later down South."

Mother shook her head. "This is fastest way," she said soothingly. "Come back to the room. You can hide from it the same way your father is. You can lay down and rest. You don't have to look at the water the whole trip. You can wait it out in your bedroom." Mother stood over her, hand outstretched towards her. Hikari winced, feeling her stomach tense uneasily. She took Mother's hand, letting her pull her up to her feet. She brought her other hand down to rest on stomach. "Are you nauseous?" Mother asked soothingly as she lead her down the hallway. Hikari nodded. "We'll get you laying down and then get you something to settle your stomach," she promised.

"Apples and bread?" Brother joked behind them. Mother chuckled softly, but Hikari did not understand the joke.

When they were almost to their rooms, Hikari felt like she was going to be sick. The ship took a heave up and down unexpectedly. She pulled away from Mother, throwing up in, mercifully, a nearby trash can. She felt someone gently lean over her, holding her hair out of the way.

When she was done, she stood up, horrible taste still in her mouth. She leaned against Mother, allowing her to lead her the rest of the way to her room that way. "I hate the sea," she grumbled.


	66. Chapter 66

Damn ship. Unbalanced floors. Outside was endless water. Hiei adjusted the cords he had tied around his wrists to fend off the nausea. The last time he had been on a ship, over twelve years ago, a sailor had showed him this trick. Tie a cord around the wrists with the thick knot digging into the inner wrists' flesh. The pinch pinched nerves, making nausea unnoticeable. Nishi was not happy that he used one of the pillow cases from the ship to make them though.

In the first evening on the ship, his girl was deplorably moody over her own dislike and nausea caused by all this water. Nishi felt guilty about having them get on the ship to go South, even though she knew it was the fastest way for her to get to her uncle. She brought that up after dinner that his girl skipped. Hiei clicked his teeth at that. The port they would reach was Sarayashiki, so they had to stay on the ship for the long haul.

After dinner, her boy convinced Nishi to go with him to explore the ship, maybe even find a library. Nishi agreed, but checked on his girl first, asking how she was feeling and if she wanted to go with them. When his girl refused rudely, Nishi asked her if she wanted any books. Another rude refusal. Nishi looked slightly wounded when she and her boy left.

Once the two of them were gone, Hiei went into his girl's room, what was left of the ruined pillow case in hand. His girl sat on her bed attached to the wall, laying curled up, facing said wall. She groaned, looking over at him and then away. "Go away," she grouched boldly.

He stepped over to her anyway. He loomed over, pulling her small wrist over to him. She flinched, trying to pull her wrist away, but he did not let her go. "This will help," he explained. He finished with her first wrist, but with the way she was laying, he could not reach her other wrist. "Turn over," he ordered softly. "Other wrist."

She huffed, such a high pitch and annoying tone. She at least rolled over and sat up, proffering her other wrist. Her free hand rested on her achy stomach. "What will this do?" she whined out.

"It help with the nausea," he answered.

"How? My wrists are nowhere near my stomach," she grumbled. She fidgeted with one of them, tempted to rip it off or burn it off.

"Rip it off. Go ahead," he said in an uncaring tone. He leaned his back against the wall on the other side of the narrow room.

He watched her, not giving away that he was watching her. She was more perceptive now. Her hand rubbed over her stomach less tenderly now. She was less nauseous. "What can you give me to get off this ship?" she asked, turning her gaze towards him. Same color as his, but softer, like a liquid fire rather than a blazing fire. Her son had the same. Pity neither of them had inherited Nishi's more expressive brown eyes...

"You'll get off this ship when we dock, just like everyone else," he answered.

She looked irritated, ready to explode at him for that. "Why are we on this stupid ship anyway?! Why did Mother drag us onto it? In these tiny rooms. She's the Angel, I'm the Lady of Alaric. If I'm stuck on this ship, the least she could have done is get us better rooms!"

Hiei looked at her, unfazed by her outburst. Nishi might have risen to it or she might have approached it calmly. Calmly was an easier way to manage his girl when she was in a foul mood. Being forced unexpectedly to face her biggest fear mixed with nausea would force anyone to be in a foul mood. She was too old for that now. Eleven. She had to learn to stomach it.

"Hn. Your mother would never do that. Too frugal for one. Also, she looks down on those throw titles around to get their way. She hates that title by the way. The Angel," he shook his head. "You can go though. Go find the captain. Demands better rooms. See how far entitlement can get you," he answered.

Her face softened, but was still scowling. "What's the point of being a lady if I can't use it?" she grumbled. Her hand came off her stomach. The nausea must have been subsiding a little at least. The cords would need a bit more time to work, but it was allowing her a better mood at least.

Talking would also distract her from her fear and negative attitude. "You can use it when you're older. To attract a suitor worth your time." She frowned at him, looking perplexed. "The prince even," he said in a joking tone. He could not help but hope she might actually like that idea.

She shook her head. "And what if I don't want to marry? What if Izo does it instead so I don't have to. He can give me an heir instead," she had a joking tone, too. Yet with a hint of serious thought. "He can marry someone who sees himself for who he truly is, not what he is." It was almost a perfect quote from Nishi.

He blinked at her, studying her. "Are you hungry yet?" he asked her. She shook her head. "What do you want to do then? Sit in your room and mope about how unfair your mother is?" he asked sarcastically.

"No," she grumbled.

He stepped towards the door, leaving it open as he went through it, saying, "you don't have to go anywhere where you can see the water, but you do need to check that attitude. You can't control the water, but you can control your behavior."

"Yes, Father," she answered in a defeated tone.


	67. Chapter 67

Nanashi led the way off the ship, Izo trailing close behind her. Hiei came next, followed by Hikari. The last two seemed rather excited to get on land when they reached Sarayashiki's port. She planned to let the two of them make the return trip together on land since the ship made them so miserable. It also made them grow closer, which did make her a bit jealous to watch. He seemed to know how to understand her, without even need to read her mind.

"What was it like growing up here, Mother?" Izo asked her as they walked.

Nanashi pondered how to answer that. "A bit hard. Everyone thought I was half demon growing up, so they mostly avoided me," she glossed over. "It changed a bit though when I was scratched by a doxy, proving I couldn't be part demon. I haven't really had the chance to be back though since I left..."

She thought about how long those years had been. She had not seen her uncle in them, but had written with him. He hardly gave her any real news of the town though. He was her only connection to the town, and Hiei had encouraged to limit her contact with him to just writing. With him dying though, she was able to convince herself to face a visit since Yusuke refused.

She looked around the town, surprised to see how little the port town had changed. It looked just the same as usual from the docks.

She led the way towards the home for older people who had no family to live with. It was a large house across the town square from the docks. A number of elderly lived there, cared for by nurses. It had to be expensive though. She half wondered, a bit worried, how Uncle Chosuke could afford it. Hiei had flat out refused to give him any money when he asked for it about ten years ago.

As they walked, she did notice her and her family getting looks. Not dirty looks, but rather curious ones. Nanashi hoped it would not go to Hikari's head to get all that attention. Izo would not care.

"What is that?" Hikari asked as they were at the cusp of town square.

"What's what?" Nanashi asked, looking back at her.

Hikari cut in front her unexpectedly. Hikari pointed over to a shiny golden statue in the center of town square, above a fountain. Nanashi stopped dead in her tracks, feeling her stomach flip. She shook her head, not wanting to believe her eyes.

Hikari went further, jogging over to the front of the statue, looking it over in surprised. "It's you?" she called over to Nanashi. "But you never wielded a bow and arrow before, did you?"

Nanashi stepped forward, not wanting to see what it was. She stood at a distance behind Hikari, hands crossed over her chest. She felt the blood drain from her face. The statue was her, but not her. The statue had massive angel wings, twice the size her real ones once were. She felt two itches in her back, just thinking about them. She looked like she was in a controlled free fall to the ground, a massive bow and arrow in her hands. Under one of her feet looked like the broken body of a regular wolf. Her hair wiped out freely around her, almost looking like thin snakes protruding from her head. She side stepped, looking around Hikari to see the inscription: 'Nanashi, the Angel. Born in this town, rescuer of the prince, and bravest heroine of us all.' Below the inscription read her uncle's name as the donor for the statue, dated over nine years prior.

Nanashi turned back, not wanting to look anymore. That was not her, not her at all. She kept her hair out of her face when fighting. There was no sign of the wind dragon. The wings were completely wrong. She used an ax regularly, not a bow and arrow. It was wrong, all wrong. The whole image of her was wrong.

She turned away, walking with her back towards the statue. She heard Izo jog up wordlessly next to her. She gave him a glance, then looked forward. In front of her was the building that used to be Haruto's tavern and inn. That made her smile, missing him. It brought back memories that brought a smile to her lips. The smile was wiped off her face when she saw the sign above the door: 'The Angel's Museum.' A brief biography about her and the hours it was open were listed below. Opened over nine years ago as well. This was how her uncle must have been able to afford living in the home for the elderly...

"Whoa, you have a museum, too?" Hikari exclaimed, appearing in a flash next to her. Nanashi had not seen or sensed her coming. "It's open right now. Can we go in?" She was far too excited.

"No," Hiei answered behind her.

She turned around, facing him. He looked annoyed. He cocked his head sideways, leading her away from the statue and away from the museum. She followed behind him, feeling like a mousy teenager half her age. The twins were trailing behind her at least, with Hikari rather excited about seeing the statue and museum.

"Shut up," Hiei told her.

All that was met with from Hikari was a grunt, scowl, and silence. If Nanashi tried to be that rude, Hikari would have been more challenging.

They reached the home for the elderly, making Nanashi feel ever grateful to finally be there. She was unsure now though if she wanted to confront her uncle anymore. She stepped around Hiei anyway, stepping into the entryway.

A youngish woman sat at the front desk, standing up to greet them as they came in. Nanashi knew her from growing up in the town, vaguely, but could not recall her name. "Angel, welcome," the woman said with a bow fit for a queen. "Is this your family, my angel?" she asked, looking behind Nanashi.

"Yes, ma'am," Nanashi said, giving her own little bow to be balanced in respectfulness. "We're here to see my uncle, Chosuke?" She did not voice it, but she would have felt half relieved if he had passed on during their travels. A wave of guilt washed over her after that bold thought.

"He's still hanging on, my angel," the woman said.

"Nanashi," Nanashi told her.

"Angel Nanashi," the woman told her. "Please follow me."

"Just Nanashi," she piped up, following the woman in front of the others.

The woman kept speaking. "He's not well. Chronic abdominal pain related to his condition, hardly able to eat."

"The mass in his gut has still grown?" Nanashi asked, recalling his last letter explaining it. Healers, which were still ever rare down South, had not been able to save him. Removing the mass was also not an option as a surgery like that would easily have killed him.

"Yes, Angel Nanashi, but his mind is still there," the woman answered. "It's still not going to be very much longer."

She hated how relieved that made her feel. "Nanashi, just Nanashi if you please," Nanashi insisted softly.

"As you wish, Nanashi," the woman said, her tongue sounding like it tumbled out the word. "This room," the woman said, knocking on the door. "Chosuke," she called into the room. "Your niece and your family have made it here to see you."

The woman side stepped just inside the door to let them pass. Nanashi did not want to go in first, but was not about to let Hiei or the twins go before her. She approached the bed her uncle was sitting propped up in. He watched her, unblinking as she moved. She gave him a polite nod of the head before bending over him to give him the stiffest of hugs. He was thinner than she ever saw before. She sat herself down on the chair next to his bed. He looked like he had aged more in the passed thirteen years than he should have.

"You made it," he commented, voice sounding older, too. "I thought you weren't coming."

"We came as swiftly as we could, Uncle," she answered, sitting up straight. "The ship was only favorable for half of us, just as well."

She looked back at her family, seeing the woman from the front desk had already made herself scarce. She partly wished she had not. Hiei stood by the open door, an unreadable expression on his face. Hikari stood next to him, face confused. Izo stood in the middle distance.

Izo stepped closer to her, coming up bravely to her uncle. "Great Uncle," he addressed politely with a bow, "it's nice to finally meet you."

He was impressively polite. Uncle Chosuke replied, "nice of your mother to allow us to meet. She has written a great deal about the two of you."

"Indeed," Izo said. "She's told us much of you as well." There was no bite in his tone.

"Your mother's son, aren't you?" Uncle Chosuke answered. He sat up a little straighter, then groaned, hand on his gut. He looked over at Hiei and Hikari. "And a father's daughter?"

Nanashi bit her lip. She knew Hiei favored Hikari, which was unfair to Izo. She tried not to show that she favored Izo just slightly. She reminded herself to play nice. "She does favor him in looks. Izo looks more like his paternal grandmother," she explained, trying to keep her voice smooth and even.

Uncle Chosuke looked the twins over. Nanashi did not like it. She remembered that look when she was younger. "None of your mother in them. Nor your father."

"Children that are part demon, angel, elf, and human are quite unpredictable as to how they will turn out," Nanashi explained.

"I forgot he was a demon," Uncle Chosuke grumbled.

"And elvish," Nanashi said, not liking his words turned on Hiei. She looked back at Hiei, giving him a soft smile. His face remained blank, but his gaze on her uncle was harder.

Uncle Chosuke noticed that harder gaze. "Is there a chance we could speak alone?" he asked Nanashi.

Part of Nanashi wanted to refuse him, but part of her reminded herself that was still dying. Had maybe two weeks at this point at the most.

"Do you mind?" Nanashi asked, looking over at Hiei. She half hoped he would refuse.

He merely grunted instead, snapping his fingers and beckoning the twins to go with him. She was glad they were going with him at least. When the door shut, she felt half trapped.

'I'm right outside, listening in,' Hiei's voice echoed in her mind, much to her relief. She allowed herself to breathe the briefest sigh of relief at that comfort.

"He's that bad, huh?" her uncle said. His tone turned mean as soon as no one else was in the room.

She knitted her brow together, then relaxed her face. "He's got his own charm in his own way," she said, smiling to herself.

"Yet you turned down a royal lord for him," her uncle grumbled. "The one I approved for you to marry." His tone had taken on an accusatory sharpness.

"I loved Hiei," she answered. "Lord Jiro actually seems quite happy in his own marriage to his wife, Ayane. She's one of the best knights in the whole country," she explained. "She's training their son up to be a champion like her." She brought her hands together, tapping her finger hidden in her palm to remind herself to be calm.

Her uncle paid no mind. "A royal would have been better for you. Better than you deserve. I guess he was a bit of a rebellion for you that you could find."

"To each our own," she answered neutrally. She kept her mouth shut about Hiei technically being a royal bastard as well. "How have you been managing since your last letter?" she asked, reaching to change the subject.

"Managing. This home is half abysmal, but when your family abandons you..." he said, with a quite sudden mopey tone change.

"We came as soon as we heard you were..." she stopped, fumbling mentally for the right word.

"Dying? Even my son won't bother with me," he whined.

"His business in the capital, his wife, I..." she hummed into silence.

"No grandchildren to speak of, either," he grumbled. Nanashi held her tongue at that. "And you bring in two demon bred children, quite the long term rebellion. Rather immature of you."

She felt herself flush, trying not to let him get a rise out of her, nor snap at him. She blinked in rapid succession. "They're quite intelligent, and quite talented. Izo is an impressive healer for his age. Hikari is motivated to learn to be a good lady of her territory one day."

"Surprising," he commented. "A picture of them would have been nice. For the museum." His tone turned oily.

She frowned at him. "Why did you even have that created? Or the statue for that matter?"

"You would not let me any money. What would you do? Penniless and on your own?" he asked.

"The king gave lots of money. To replace the money Sakyo gave you, that I once took," she recalled. "And you were once of the better black smiths in town."

He gave her a dirty look. "Those were made to honor you, yet at your age you continue to be an ungrateful, rebellious brat. And a thief on top of that."

She felt her face flush, not wanting to give into him like that, over that. "I want them taken down, closed down." She felt ready to snap him. She dug her finger nails so sharply in her palm that she thought she might bleed. "Uncle-" she started.

"You, child-" he stopped at the sound of the door opening up. His eyes caught over at the door. His tone changed immediately to a loving one. "You, child, should not upset yourself over things." She turned around, seeing Hiei and feeling grateful for it. He left the door wide open. "Your husband missing you after being separated so long once more, eh?" he teased jovially.

"We're leaving," Hiei stated, stepping over to her, offering him her hand. She took it gratefully, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"Leaving? But you've only just got here?" her uncle asked pathetically. "I am not long for this world..." he guilt tripped. A shudder went through his body.

"We'll both be back tomorrow," Hiei promised. A look of fright crossed her uncle's face.

"I hardly know you," her uncle pressed, voice not unlike a mopey zoo lion. "I would prefer to spend my last few days with family."

"You will be," Hiei answered. "The twins are much too tired after the long journey. See you tomorrow," he said loud enough for anyone in the hallway passing by to hear him. He then walked out of the room with her at a rush before her uncle could even think to call after them.

She felt numb as he lead her outside. "I need a minute," she said her voice cracking against her will.

She wished she had booked their hotel in advanced. She could not imagine booking one in the state she was in. She let him wordlessly lead him down into a deserted alleyway. She slumped on the ground, knees wide up by her chest, arms resting on her knees, and forehead slumped against her forearms. She felt a mix of melancholy and numb.

Finally, she said, "he hasn't changed a bit."


	68. Chapter 68

The uncle was such a son of a bitch. Exploiting Nishi and then insulting her when he thought no one else could hear him. He built a statue and opened a museum in her 'honor,' but really did it to make money off of her, her image, and her biography. Thankfully he was on his death bed at least. There was certainly the temptation to send him over the edge, but he kept himself above that. It would be easy to never be caught, but he would know.

Nishi kept to herself the rest of the day. Hiei had her hide away in a cafe while he went and booked a hotel for the four of them. After that, he let her hide away there while he hunted the twins down in the town. Her boy had kept his girl out of the fake museum, convincing her to explore the woods and go hunt for wild demon animals instead. It was was a fruitless effort, which her boy probably knew from the get go. His girl was still a bit naive though. He hoped she would grow out of that.

Nishi kept to herself, not eating dinner with them either. His girl was chatty, animatedly talking about what she and her boy saw in this backwards town. She was observant of her surroundings, that was something at least.

Even after dinner and the twins had gone to bed, Nishi was still withdrawn, even with him. She went to bed first while he stayed up and sat by the window. He watched outside, looking over the town. He watched people milling around outside, in various stages of inebriation. He read their minds, seeing what they knew about the museum. More lies than the truth. How did they allow the uncle to open that museum? Did none of them stop to think if Nishi even wanted that opened? Or erect that statue for that matter.

He heard her whimper in her sleep. He looked over at her. She lay curled up in a ball, a slight frown on her face. When the uncle finally died, that statue would come down and that museum would be closed down. Both could easily be destroyed, but the actual way they needed gone were going to be harder on her. He had no idea how to protect her from it either.

He shifted in the window sill, stretching. He stripped down, changing just into a pair of pitch black sleep pants. He went over to the bed, climbing into it next to her. He woke her up without meaning to. She rolled over to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"He'll be gone soon," he whispered to her.

She hummed against his shoulder, nuzzling him.

Then she did something unexpected. She pulled him with her so he laid down on top of her on her back. Her hand came around to the back of his neck, mouth claiming his. He felt her free hand pulling at his sleep pants, shoving them down the best she could. She did the same with hers.

He looked down at her, studying her face. She looked worn out, but in the mood. So to go quick. He slipped up and off of her, reaching down and yanking off her pants first, his second. He went back on top of her, rubbing against her in a way he knew how to excite her fast. She made a loud inhale, arching her neck up.

She surprised him yet again though. She snaked her hands down between them, slipping his cock inside of her before he was even completely ready for that. She winced, inhaling deeply. He thrusted in her slowly, waiting for her to get wet enough for him to take her hard and fast.

She seemed impatient with him though. Her nails dug into his hips, legs pressing against him. He yanked her hands away, raising his back so he could loom over her. He smirked down at her. She met his eyes with a bold, challenging look in her own eyes. She always liked in rough when she was feeling vulnerable.

He stopped deep inside of her, guided her legs over his shoulders, and pinned her wrists down by her head. She whimpered, biting back the temptation to scream. This was not the castle where their rooms were private enough for her to let her voice carry. He took her hard, but held back a little bit, feeling tired.

"Harder," she whispered.

He took a steadying breath, taking her as hard as he could manage. He must have given her what she wanted because she kept whimpering and gasping. She tried to pull her hands away from him, but he kept them locked down until they both were sated.

She laid on her back, stock still beneath him. Overly relaxed now. "Thank you," she breathed.


	69. Chapter 69

"I don't see why we had to leave," Sister grumbled after Father lead them out of the mayor's office, all the way outside. He left them to mingle among the crowd gathered around the good side of the docks.

Great Uncle had passed away on their first night in the town, leaving Mother to deal first with the initial shock and then the drama in the aftermath. Uncle, Great Uncle's son, refused to leave the capital for anything to do his father. Must have been some drama when they were growing up. Based on what Father has said about Great Uncle both in front of and behind Mother's back, Izo could not blame him. Two days after the funeral and there unexpected drama.

Father left them and went back to Mother with the warning, "don't separate and wait here."

Sister watched Father walk away, and then looked around the crowd. "What's the problem?" she asked.

Izo looked down at her, keeping his face blank. Sister was not listening at breakfast this morning. Great Uncle had left everything he owned, including the 'fake' museum, as Father called it, to the mayor's office. Nothing to Uncle. Nothing to Mother. No way for Mother to close down the museum, as well as take down the statue, that she wanted to. They went together as a group of four to the mayor's office to see if Mother could figure out a way to get them closed and removed anyway. Once Mother got frustrated though, Father shooed Izo and Sister away.

"Mother wants the museum closed down and the statue brought down," Izo answered. "And the mayor won't do it."

"That again?" Sister said, clicking her tongue against her teeth. "Wasn't it done in her honor?"

Izo kept himself calm as he answered, "not with her permission."

"The mayor's not going to let her," Sister said determinedly. "She did say she hated the mayor growing up him. He and Mother once got in a brawl when they were kids. Maybe being the mayor of this town shouldn't be a hereditary leadership."

"Says the baby who inherited one of the largest territories in the country," Izo teased.

She clicked her teeth at him, but said nothing. She studied the crowd around them. She jumped up, trying to see over the heads of the biggest crowd forming in front of them. Izo felt luckier. He only had to stand on his tip toes to see above the heads of the crowd. He spotted a massive ship coming in the distance down where the river met the sea. One that made the ship they sailed on look like a bath toy. As the ship got closer and closer, he say the flag whipping around at the top of the main mast: a fierce hawk rampant. It made his stomach drop.

To Sister, he asked, "Father told Mother about that letter the king sent, right?"

"Hm," she hummed, turning back to face him. "Yeah. After you told Mother about it when we were traveling overland. Remember that bit of an argument it caused?"

Izo recalled it. He had asked Mother about the letter, wondering what it was about. Mother was surprised about its existence. It was only after she confronted Father that he revealed it was a letter from the king saying they were coming to Alaric on a royal visit. Father claimed he took the letter to no give Mother a reason not to go to Uncle, but Izo was suspicious about that. It did not sound right to him. Mother was hardly a fan of the king, but she still spoke highly of him. He was overly ambitious, but he had been kind and caring to her when they first met. He valued her person-hood before knowing who she was.

Yet seeing the royal ship sailing into port right now made Izo's stomach flip. Father wanted to avoid the king. Had wanted to be like that his and Sister's whole lives. The few times Izo had seen the king, queen, or prince, Mother entertained them and Father avoided them. His parents needed a warning about this.

"Stay here," he pressed Sister, firm hand on her shoulder to show that he meant it. She had spoken about wanting to go to Mother's fake museum, but he had deterred her from it.

He moved back towards the mayor's office, pushing through the crowd that had formed up behind them. He made it passed the secretary's desk by walking passed her with confidence. She watched him, but did not call after him. He made it in front of the door of the mayor's office. He nearly knocked on the door, but he heard Mother's raised voice. That stilled him.

Mother's voice suddenly ceased. She came out of the room, opening the door in a huff. She looked fierce, but pulled it back into a surprised face when she saw him.

"Izo, what is it?" she asked him. Father was behind her, looking just as curious.

"The royal family is here," he answered.

Father looked furious. Mother looked exasperated.


	70. Chapter 70

Izo left her abruptly, saying he would be right back or something. Hikari wondered why he was going so suddenly. She jumped, trying to see over the crowd. She hated how short she was. Izo shot up like a bamboo pole a year ago, but she did not. She was waiting impatiently for her growth spurt.

"I hear the king is coming," an older girl said behind Hikari.

Hikari turned to look at them. They did not notice her at all. She faced forwarded, hoping to hear more from her.

"No way," the girl next to her.

"I hear he's coming for Chosuke's funeral," the first girl said. "In honor of the angel."

"Oh, yeah, the angel is still in town," the second girl commented. "I wish I could be as beautiful as she is."

Hikari blinked in surprise at that. Mother prided herself in being strong, worrying less about looking beautiful. That was the demon way. She owned it. Mother told her strength was more important.

"She's so too pale though," the first girl commented. "And her husband," her voice shuddered. "He looks ready to kill at a moment's notice."

"Weird for an elf," the second girl added. "Must be from all those years in the fighting pit in the capital."

The first girl gasped. "I see him!" she exclaimed.

Hikari tried to peer between the people in front of her. She wanted to ease drop more with these two girls behind her.

"He's so tall, regal, and handsome," the second girl gushed.

Hikari wondered why they would talk about the king in such a way. He was old... Older than Father, older than Mother's father. Elves did age three times as slow as humans. Old man hot? She slightly shook her head, not agreeing.

"How old is he again?" the second girl questioned.

"Fifty-five," the first girl answered.

"No way," the second girl was shocked.

"Elves age so slow. He's like eighteen-ish for humans." The first girl gushed. "I'm old enough for him then..."

"A human would age too fast," the second girl said, pout emanating in her voice.

"I would do everything in my power not to," the first girl reasoned.

Hikari clued in finally. They were talking about the prince. She laughed softly to herself. She had met the prince before, a few times over the year when her family interacted with the royal family. Father did his best to avoid the king and queen, but spoke surprisingly highly of the prince. Brave, getting stronger, potential to be a good king one day, so long as he left his exploratory and vain nature behind. Mother always looked surprised when he said stuff like that. Yet she had described him as a sweet boy, curious to a fault. Like to wander off too much though.

Hikari heard the girls decide to go off through the crowd to see if they could get a closer look at the prince. Hikari looked around, wondering where Izo was. She bit her lip. She saw Mother's museum. It was so crowded... She could claim she got lost in the crowd... Still the excuse that she wanted to see the prince, too...

She pushed her way through the crowd as quick as she could to get to the museum. No one would wanted to be there anyway if everyone wanted to watch the royals. The attendant at the museum's front counter did not even care to notice her beyond taking her money. It was a bit pricey at that. She was too busy peering out the window for her own glimpse at the royal family.

Hikari knew she would need to move fast to see what was what in this museum. She had tried to convince Izo half a dozen times to go with her, to see what was fake, but he said their parents said no, so he said no. She moved fast, looking at things quickly around her. The process was unreal when she walked through the parts about Mother's childhood. According to the museum, Mother was one of the most popular girls growing up. Mother said she only really had her cousin and her secret father as friends growing up. The rest of the kids teased her for her pale skin and bastard status, fought with her and her cousin, or ignored her coldly. This place was so fake. Father was right. She regretted coming into her in the first place.

She kept her head down, not waiting to see anything else, to notice anything else. She quick stepped her way to the exit, only to surprised by a tall, honey haired youth slipped his way into the museum from the exit. His hair shone like golden sunlight, like it had been brushed and brushed to perfection. She knew him, the back of her mind told her so. His hair cascaded down around him, covering up his ears and concealing part of his face. His eyes met hers for one brief second, and then she knew who he was. The prince.

She dropped her head immediately, hoping he would not remember her. She turned back, looking at the closest exhibit she could. She wished her hair was longer, so it could conceal her face as well. It hung just below her chin. Anything longer had been singed off by the fire serpent around her neck when she fought. She kept her composure, trying not let the prince notice her. She tuned her attention on the exhibit in front of her. It was Mother's letters to her uncle. Hikari saw her name dance through most of them, making her stomach drop. Sometimes Izo's name was near hers, sometimes they were stand alone. Mother mentioned loving her, and her brother. How she wanted to raise them both, especially Hikari as the lady of Alaric, properly. Mother voiced a jealousy at Father's deeper connection with her, and how she wanted that, even though it was so difficult. It was not as difficult with Izo.

Hikari felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes. This was real. This was true, this was honest. This bit was genuinely Mother.

Yet the prince stepped right up next her, looking over the letters as well. Hikari closed her eyes slowly, opening them up. She had to keep calm and step away before the prince recognized her like she recognized him.

"She's such beautiful handwriting," the prince commented.

Hikari clicked her teeth and hummed, "hm." She turned, meaning to walk away.

Yet he kept talking. She could not very well walk away from him while he was talking, being the royal crown prince after all. "I knew her when I was much younger, you know?" he spoke way too jovially, too familiarly with her. He thought she did not know who he was. He still did not know who she was. She planned to keep it that way. "You look too young to have ever met her though, growing up in this town," he tone was a little condescending. "Humans like yourself age so fast, too fast my father says. That's why they often have big families as if they are avoiding extinction. Plus the climate down South is more your speed. Too cold in the North."

She frowned to herself. The North wasn't that cold. It did not thrill her like it did Izo, but it was manageable. It hardly affected her anyway, unlike Mother. Mother sometimes hated winters, wearing multiple layers, hands and lips dry and cracking from the cold. "I'm sure the North isn't all that cold," she commented. She turned her head farther away, noticing out of the corner of her eye he was studying her.

"Did you grow up here or in the North?" he asked in a rude, yet playfully teasing tone.

She shrugged, saying, "maybe."

He was still staring at her, which was making her uncomfortable. "Think you could give your crown prince a tour?" he asked haughtily. That would be the worse idea ever in her mind. She really just needed to flee this museum before she was missing too long and was caught. "Starting with this museum?"

"I'm busy," she stated, heading towards the exit in a rush so fast he could not follow.

She did not look back, but could hear he was following behind her. She slipped out the exit, running down the alley way and into the outskirts of the crowd. Thankfully he did not follow her out the door. She hardly had a chance to catch her breath, when she heard Izo, and then Mother calling her name.


	71. Chapter 71

Nanashi hated Kaname when they were kids, and now she hated him even more as the current major of Sarayashiki. He was worse than his father as major before him he seemed. He touted about how important the history of the town was to everyone, to the nation, and even to the world. You would think it was a grand city with a massive port and of international importance. It was really a backwater town with a high opinion of itself, higher than the mayor's of himself. He insisted the town inherited 'The Angel's' museum, and it was an important part of history, culture, and tourism for the town. It generated money from travelers coming in and out of the port. He would not close it, nor even consider removing the statue, as it was now in his charge.

Nanashi stormed out of the mayor's office, Hiei following behind her. She felt the temptation to ask him about destroying the statue and museum...

She stopped abruptly in the entrance, see Izo alone in front of her. "Izo, what is it?" she asked him. Hiei was just behind her.

"The royal family is here," he answered.

Nanashi gritted her teeth, hating this sudden news. She recalled writing to the king after she found out Hiei hid a letter from him. She told him they were not going to be in Alaric, instead going to Sarayashiki for her uncle's death. King Hayate must have set sail down the river from Hayato City instead of going to Alaric.

"Why?" Hiei asked shortly.

Izo shook his head, unsure. "Hikari and I saw the royal ship coming in from upriver and dock. People were getting off of it when I left her where Father told us to wait."

Nanashi felt suddenly nervous. "How long did you leave her alone?" she asked, concerned. Hikari really wanted to go the museum. It had been difficult to keep her away and convince her. Outright forbidding her just enhanced her resolve.

Izo hummed to himself, looking suddenly guilty. "Ten... more like fifteen minutes ago..." He scratched his brow. "Easily could have been twenty minutes ago..."

Nanashi scowled. Hikari could move fast. They would have to move faster. "We need to find her," Nanashi ruled, leading the way out of the mayor's office building and into the thick of the crowd to find her daughter.

Izo led to where he had left Hikari, much too close to the museum. "She was right here," he said, his voiced mixed with annoyance and stubbornness. "Hikari!" he called out, weaving his way through the crowd towards the museum.

"Hikari!" Nanashi echoed. She had better not be in that museum. If she were...

They were calling around the front of the museum, when a short, black hair figure came running out from behind the museum. Hikari huffed up and over towards them.

Nanashi stepped over to Hikari. "Tell me you did not go into the museum," she demanded, trying to keep her temper at bay. It was not just Hikari that was upsetting her right. Hikari looked frightened. She would not looked Nanashi in the eye, but she shook her head wordlessly. Nanashi scowled. "You were trying to get into the back door, weren't you?" Hikari looked down at her feet. "Answer me."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled out.

"You will not be left alone the remainder of this trip," Nanashi ruled. She was grateful that Hiei did not respond, either to agree nor disagree with her choice in punishment. She turned, facing Izo. "You either," she decided. Izo flinched at that, but said nothing. Hikari looked irked, but kept her mouth shut. Normally if she was incised, she would complain.

Hiei spoke up, "we need to go. Unless you want to to get caught up with the royal procession?" Nanashi turned her attention to him. "How did he know we were down here?" he grumbled.

Nanashi felt her own self turn squeamish. "I told him," she dead panned. "I wrote and told him before we left Alaric."

"Why?" he grumbled, annoyed in his own right now.

"Because we wouldn't be able to receive him at Alaric," she answered. "He's the king. We couldn't very well ditch the king behind his back. He rules the country. He and his ancestors were chosen to rule by the Great Hawk Spirit." She felt her mind start to spin about what the king could do, more so what the queen could do to convince people of something, when their mind was put to it...

Hiei looked like his temper was rising higher and faster than hers was currently. "You shouldn't have done that."

"You shouldn't have hidden that letter," she said louder than she wished she had.

"Um, excuse me," a confident woman's voice called out from behind them, "have you seen a tall, young man? Long blonde hair?"

Nanashi turned around in time with everyone else. She was not sure who recognized Ayane first, her or Hiei. Ayane did looked surprised to see them. She gave a swift bow towards the lot of them, saying in rapid succession, "my angel, my lady, gentlemen."

"What do you want?" Hiei asked rudely.

Nanashi frowned at him. "Lady Ayane, how have you been?" she asked awkwardly, giving her own bow in return.

"Good, my angel," she said with a smile of mostly contentment. "How have you been? It's been quite a while," she responded.

"We've been good, but my uncle has just passed away," Nanashi answered.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ayane answered. "The king heard you would be traveling down here, my angel. He figured it had been such a long time, so he wanted to see you and your family, as well as this town. He figured he would kill two with one stone as you say."

"We were just leaving the town, today," Hiei told Ayane abruptly.

"Oh," Ayane answered. "I see...Um... Have you seen the prince...?" she asked slowly.

"Did he run off again?" Nanashi asked, trying to use her words appropriately.

Ayane sighed. "Off the ship, and gave my husband the slip," she frowned, looking annoyed.

"Your first problem was having Jiro babysit him," Hiei griped.

Ayane gave him a cutting glare. "It wasn't his fault. Prince Takashi was told to stay and wait for mounts to found, and he spirited himself away, likely wanting to explore the angel's hometown."

Nanashi felt herself blush in spite of herself. He still hero worshiped her, even after all these years.

"Best of luck in finding him," Hiei said. "Come on," he side stepped his away around Ayane.

Nanashi blinked, a little put off by his rudeness. "We should help find him real fast before we leave," Nanashi said tenderly. "One time he disappeared, a pack of dire wolves set on him," she pointed out.

"Mother," Hikari's voice cut quietly in the midst of them.

Nanashi turned around, facing her. "What is it?"

"He's in the museum," she said, head hung down, eyes trailed on her shoes. She turned her toes in as she stood.


	72. Chapter 72

"It's too stiff," Hikari griped to Nanashi in one of the mayor's guesthouse rooms. She shifted uncomfortably in the new kimono Nanashi had rushed to buy the two of them new ones for this evening.

"It's new," Nanashi said, doing her best to keep her bite out of her tone.

She thought back to yesterday in the alley when Hikari had admitted she was in the museum when the royal family rolled into town. Nanashi was livid with Hikari, but saw an opportunity she could seize. She went herself into the museum to extract Prince Takashi, who was part annoyed with her, and part in awe of her. He looked so young still. Like he was only eighteen or nineteen years old. She brought him with the others to the king and queen, which they were grateful for. After a bit of small talk, she was able to seize an opportunity to speak with Queen Minha privately.

Nanashi stood over Hikari, pulling tightly on the obi behind her. Hikari pulled away, complaining, "it's too tight."

"It needs tight enough to stay up. Hold still," Nanashi explained. She pulled the ends tightly, twisting it into a bow with inexperienced fingers. She looked it over, half tempted go to get Ayane to redo it. "You remember your role for tonight?" she asked quietly.

Hikari looked back at her, irked in her eyes. "Yes," she answered. "Be contradictory and childish." She frowned.

Nanashi read the look on her face. "You went into the museum when I told you not to. So now you need to use what you gleaned in there to our advantage."

"Because you got the queen involved in shutting it down," Hikari grumbled.

"Help me with mine, please," Nanashi said, avoiding the argument. As Hikari tied her obi, with what felt like better precision than Nanashi had, Nanashi kept speaking. "The queen is good at convincing people to compromise. If she can't get Mayor Kaname to close the museum, no one can," she said confidently.

"You're uncle never should have opened it," Hikari admitted. "It's all wrong, mostly wrong. Why would he do that? Why would the mayor not see that?"

Nanashi sighed. "People do lots of things when the money is tempting enough."

"And yet I have to defend it," Hikari griped.

"You have to play devil's advocate as punishment for sneaking off into the museum and lying about it," Nanashi remembered her. "Your father will relay for you as needed. He'll be listening in."

"I don't see why Izo can't do this," Hikari said dejectedly.

"He's not coming, even though he wanted to. That's his punishment for leaving you alone," Nanashi pointed out.

Hikari clicked her teeth, but otherwise went quiet.

Nanashi thought over the plan Queen Minha came up with in her head once more. After telling her about the museum and statue, the queen took to her side, agreeing to see what she could do to get rid of them both in the town. The royal family had already been invited to stay with Mayor Kaname's and his family at the mayor's palace. They got invited to stay at the guest house with the royal family. Queen Minha invited them to a dinner party held in the royal family's honor. Queen Minha's plan was to play off of the mayor's passion and pride in the town's history, which was why he would not close the museum down. Queen Minha was going to have Nanashi share at dinner about growing up in Sarayashiki and have Hikari contradict her and mention about what she saw and read about in the museum. Use the two of them to make Mayor Kaname realize the museum needed replaced with something better.

"Let's go," Nanashi said, giving herself one quick look in the mirror. Hikari followed her out of the room.

They met with Queen Minha at the bottom of the stairwell in the entry way of the mayor's guest house. The queen looked stunning, ageless. Like an eternal elvish beauty. Prince Takashi stood next to her, looking a bit of a sourpuss. "My angel, my lady," the queen said, back held up straight.

"Your majesty, my prince," Nanashi said with a bow. Hikari echoed her in words and motion. The queen and prince bowed to them in time.

"Are you ready?" Queen Minha asked curiously. She nodded to both Nanashi and Hikari.

"Yes, your grace," Nanashi answered.

Queen Minha lead the four of them out of the guest house. Prince Takashi went next, then Hikari after a wave of Nanashi's hand, and then Nanashi herself. Walking as befitting rank. Queen Minha lead them to the mayor's palace across the lawn. Nanashi felt hopeful that the queen could convince Mayor Kaname to close the museum. That was the end goal.

At the door of the palace, the four of them were greeted by the mayor, and his wife, Mira. Nanashi bit back the scowl that wanted to decorate her face at the sight of Kaname's smugness.

"Your majesty," Mayor Kaname said with a bow matched by his wife. "You are a bit early for dinner," he said. Nanashi wanted to smirk. Arriving early. He was flustered. Caught off guard.

"I hope that is quite alright," Queen Minha said in a honeyed, almost flirtatious voice. "I heard your palace is quite a museum of its own. If we have the time, might we explore a bit?"

Mayor Kaname gave her a charming smile. "Of course, your grace," he answered. "Mira, could you go check on dinner for us, please?"

Mira's face flashed disappointment, but she held it in check. "Oh course, my love." She gave him a swift peck on the cheek before retreating away from the rest of them.

"My own personal trophy room hold quite a bit of history of the town. Right this way, your grace," Mayor Kaname said, gesturing for them to follow after them.

They followed after him, with Queen Minha getting Mayor Kaname chatting with him about the town. As they walked. Nanashi was quietly amazed at how much history he knew. He was brief, but thorough. From the centuries the town was founded and its notable history. He was proud of it.

When they reached the trophy room, even Queen Minha gasped. It was a large room, taking up half of the third floor they were on. There we several taxidermy animals, some just heads mounted on the wall. A large, snarling dire wolf in the center. There were also several artifacts and art around the room.

"Whoa, there's more in here than the museum," Hikari blurted out. Nanashi looked over at her, throwing her a questioning look. "Hn," she hummed. Nanashi gave her a quick smirk.

"Does it?" Queen Minha asked. "I'm sure the town's museum has so much more in it though. Especially with how lucrative it is for the town."

Hikari shook her head. "It's just about Mother, my queen," she answered.

"Oh," Queen Minha commented in a disappointed tone.

Mayor Kaname picked up on it, which Nanashi noticed. "Your grace, she's the first known angel born to this realm. And she was born here." He gave Nanashi a polite nod that seemed a bit fake.

"She is quite something," Prince Takashi answered, giving Nanashi the same smile a teacher's pet would.

"Uh, she was very populous- popular in town growing up," Hikari rushed out. She looked nervous suddenly, like she might have swallowed a bug.

"Yeah," Prince Takashi added in. "One of the best students in school."

Queen Minha, who was standing over by an ancient looking shield commented, "my angel, I thought you kept mostly to yourself growing up? And had to drop out of school to work?"

Nanashi, who was standing in front of what looked the bones of a thunderbird's wing, turned back, not to the queen, but to the mayor. She gave him a look that showed she was unsure if she should be contradictory to the queen, or honest. He avoided her gaze. It was then she clued in he had been in league with her uncle over the museum. "Why, yes, your grace. That's right," she answered respectfully. "My cousin and I mostly kept to ourselves." She cast a look at the mayor. "When we weren't street fighting with the other kids of course." She recalled one fight she had with Mayor Kaname as a kid. She had lost that fight, but not before she blackened his eye.

Mayor Kaname cleared his throat, "yes, well..." he muttered something under his breath that Nanashi could not hear.

Queen Minha seemed to have caught it though. So did Prince Takashi. "Sir," he growled out.

Queen Minha looked over at her son, shooting him a warning look. "Where is your lovely wife, sir? Perhaps dinner will be ready soon?"

"Most likely, your grace," Mayor Kaname said. "Why don't we head over to the dining room?"

He lead them to the dining room, with Queen Minha quizzing him about the town and more of its history along the way. Kaname spoke of his answers with quite a bit of pride in his voice.

Once in the dining room, which was set with splendor, the lot of them sat down. Kaname and his wife sat at the heads of the table, facing each other. The queen and the prince sat on one side of the table, and Nanashi and Hikari on the other. Throughout the dinner, the queen continued to press Mayor Kaname more and more about the history of the town, even stuff revolving around Nanashi. Even then in time, Hikari would contradict him about stuff she had seen in the museum.

Her comments finally wore Mayor Kaname down, making him snap at her in a harsh tone, "well, aren't you an expert on your mother?"

"Sir," Prince Takashi said in a short tone. "It's not your place to speak like to someone who outranks you," he rushed out.

Mayor Kaname turned his harsh gaze on the prince. "She was handed that title, I inherited mine." After a bold pause, he added, "your grace."

Queen Minha sat there watching passively. Nanashi shifted her gaze from her to Mayor Kaname. "Hiei and I earned it for her. Lord Mukuro hoped she would be a balance between the of us. Our strengths and weaknesses."

"I do," Hikari said, turning a hard gaze on the mayor. "Your museum is wrong. Close it down. I've already proven to you tonight the number of things it got wrong in there."

The mayor looked at her, as if shocked by her bold statement. Prince Takashi spoke up next, before anyone else. "That statue is all wrong as well. A warrior angel like her," he nodded respectfully at Nanashi, "would always braid their hair back before battle. The way she is wearing it right now. Even her weapon is wrong as well. Her wind dragon forms a battle ax, not a bow and arrows. Also, she slayed dire wolves, not the tamer versions of regular wolves."

The room went eerily silent. Nanashi flinched when the mayor's wife's fork dropped and clattered on her empty plate. Nanashi saw Hikari look about ready to say something, but opened her mouth a fraction and closed it with a slight pout.

Queen Minha finally broke the silence with a twitter of laughter. "Youths," she said in explanation. "So passionate are the younger generations." She leaned over the table, giving Mayor Kaname an almost flirtatious smile. "Maybe we should excuse them? Angel Nanashi can watch them while we have our own heart to heart? Hmm?"

It surprised Nanashi to see that it worked, like a charm. Nanashi was dismissed, along with the mayor's wife, Hikari, and Prince Takashi. The mayor's wife escorted them to the front door before shutting it behind them. Nanashi ended up leading the other two back to the guest house.

Once inside the guest house however, Hikari turned on Prince Takashi, giving him an unfriendly punch in the upper arm. "I had that covered," she hissed at him. "That was my job."

"Hikari," Nanashi gasped, hoping she would calm down.

"Mother has it covered," Prince Takashi growled down at her.

"You're just a vain boy who wanted the glory and attention for himself," Hikari accused.

Prince Takashi simmered. "You're one to talk. You can barely follow your parents instructions, surprised you could follow Mother's so well."

Hikari tried to shove her way around Nanashi, but Nanashi shoved her right back, just enough to keep her away from the prince. "Leave him alone," Nanashi instructed her. "The queen knows you helped the best you could. Both of you could."

"Wouldn't have worked without me," the prince said audibly.

Nanashi heard Hikari growl, but then noticed she was suddenly at a distance from her. Hiei, minus his headband, had come out of nowhere, pulling her back towards the sitting room of the guest house. "Back off," he growled at her.

Hikari shrugged Hiei off, but did not come near the prince. "Stupid, vain, stuck up," she grumbled, retreating her way towards the staircase rather than the sitting room Hiei had been trying to guide her to.


	73. Chapter 73

"I thought you hated the king," his girl deadpanned Hiei quietly.

Hiei had ridden towards the back of the royal progress group where his girl, her boy, and Nishi rode on their hippogriffs. Hiei had been riding up in the front with the king, catching up with the old fool, trying not to think about the deal they made signed in blood.

"He's alright in small doses," Hiei answered her. "Just like the prince."

His girl snorted at that. "Vain boy," she murmured. "How many times has he brushed his hair today?"

Hiei clicked his teeth, not liking her response. The queen had got the statue of Nishi taken down, and the museum changed into a museum for the town, rather than a museum of Nishi. There was still one small section of a wall for Nishi, which she begrudgingly agreed to let be there.

Hiei brought his hippogriff up next to Nishi's. "The king is hoping we can make it to Gandara by nightfall rather than camping once more in the woods."

"Would be swifter if we didn't have to follow the river so much?" Nishi murmured, but without a sharp tone.

"The queen wants to progress on the river boat. She and the prince prefer it to riding," Hiei commented.

"He can't ride?" his girl quipped, commenting on the prince.

"His mother prefers him not to," Hiei commented. "He's the heir of the royal family. If he had a living sibling, it would be a different story. Can't take the risk."

"What about his cousin?" her boy asked. "Lord Jiro's son, Shura?"

Hiei clicked his teeth. "A young thing yet. His mother is making sure he grows up strong. Be a warrior like herself."

"Give the vain boy to her to train then," his girl suggested. "Or give him to Father to toughen up."

"Use his title," Hiei snapped at her. "Use some respect."

His girl frowned at him, but made no response. Nishi spoke up instead. "Are we once more invited to dine aboard the ship?" She looked about excited at the idea as he did.

Hiei smirked at her, knowing what he was going to say would greatly interest her. "There's that, but once we reach Gandara, Lord Jiro's territory, the king has grown restless. He wants to hold a small tournament between fighters in procession with him. At Lord Jiro's castle. The day after we arrive since we will be staying there for a few days."

Nishi's smile spread across her mouth, very much excited at the idea. "I won't take it easy on you," she warned him flirtatiously.

"Can we fight?" his girl asked in a rush, breaking into the conversation. She looked and forth between his boy and him.

Hiei looked over at Nishi. Nishi studied over the twins, before nodding. "So long as there's no hard feelings to be had if you are defeated," she warned.

"I won't lose," his girl said confidently.

"That's manageable," her boy answered humbly.


	74. Chapter 74

The king's progress arrived in Gandaran Castle quickly, much to Nanashi's relief. She felt like her age was catching up to her, riding astride hippogriff all day. Not to mention Hiei's flash of attentiveness at night. He usually behaved this way whenever they were around the royal family, like he wanted to ensure she was his or something.

The day after they had settled in for a week's rest at Gandara, five visitors arrived at her, Hiei's, and the twins' quarters in the ancient Gadaran Castle. When she opened the door, she was happy to see four of them.

"Long time no see," Yasha said, standing in the front, his frame filling up the doorway.

"Yasha!" she breathed, excited to see him after several months since his last visit to Gandara.

She jumped up, wrapping her arms around his next. He huffed on impact, wrapping his arms around her. She could be his supple gloves on her back, holding her up. He went with the jump she made, twirling her around into the hallway. She was a bit dizzy when he sat her down on her feet in front of Kurama. She turned around, hugging him as well.

"What are you two doing here?" Nanashi asked them, looking up at Kurama curiously.

She saw Hiei and the twins come over to the door of their quarters, looking the three of them over. Hikari braved her own hug with Yasha.

"Came to see you in the castle you could have had," Yasha teased. "Too bad it went to Ayane instead."

"We heard you joined the royal progress, so we decided join as well," Kurama answered.

"More heard from my sister that you closed down a museum dedicated to you. In return, the angel and her family had to join the progress," Yasha teased.

She looked behind her, back over at Yasha, ready to make her own witty remark. She forgot her words when she saw Hiei standing in the doorway, giving a scowl behind Yasha. Nanashi side stepped to look behind Yasha, seeing three people standing near them: Kuwabara, Yukina, and Yusuke. She stared blankly at them, recalling Yukina had yet to know after all these years she was Hiei's sister. Then the sight of Yusuke overshadowed that thought as she felt a sickening rage over come inside of her.

She slipped her way passed Yasha, walking swiftly towards Yusuke. Kuwabara and Yukina had enough sense to step away from them. She reached Yusuke, giving him a full handed slap across his face. She would have slapped him again, if it was not for Kuwabara grabbing her, pulling her back.

"How dare you?" she growled, trying to get away from Kuwabara. "Your father died, and you left it to me to clean up your mess!"

Yusuke rub his face absentmindedly. "I never told you you had to go down there. He was not worth your time. He wasn't go to give you anything but drama for your time." She stared him down. "Look, jeez, I'm sorry. Had I known in time you were going to go down there, I would have gone with you, you know that."

She swallowed thickly, shaking her head. "Maybe," she said. "You should have."

She grunted, shaking herself off of Kuwabara. Kuwabara went to grab her again, but Yusuke shook his head. Kuwabara backed off. She stepped over to Yusuke, with him stepping towards her in turn. She gave him a half hearted punch in the shoulder before allowing him to hug her.


	75. Chapter 75

Hiei watched Nishi that day and next, surprised at home willing she was to forgive the detective so easily. It gave him own sense of hope in that, even though he was still annoyed that the detective let the uncle put her through all that.

They did have the tournament the king decided to put on in Gandara, as befitting a distraction as their could be. The king had anyone who wanted to fight down in the tiny fitting pit the cousin had made for the beauty as a wedding gift back when they were married. She loved to fight, being a knight. She was raising their only son to be a knight like her one day.

The beauty was one of the fighters down in the pit with Hiei. Along with the king, the prince, Nishi, the twins, the stranger, the fox, the detective, the oaf, and a few other elves Hiei was unsure of their names. Anyone else with them on progress was in the stands to watch, along with folk from the city.

The king broke down the rules for them. One match between two fighters each. Everyone would draw a coin out of the bag. Half the coins had numbers on them, while the other half of the coins had no marks on them, wilds. Those with numbers would pair up to battle, like numbers one and two, three and four, etc. Those with wild could trade out for someone else in an assigned match. So if the detective had one, the fox had two, and the stranger had a wild, then the stranger could take the fox's number two coin in order to fight with the detective. If traded out by other another opponent, you could not return to a previous potential opponent if other fighters were an option. They could keep trading until the next set ready went up to fight. If two wilds decided to, they could also pair up to fight at the end of the line. Apparently this was a tournament the king liked to do with his knights from time to time to build morale and have fun.

The only rules that were different today is the king determined he got coin one, his son the prince, coin two, and the twins coin three and four. No one was allowed to exchange with the four of them. Everyone else in the fights was fair game.

Hiei's coin had number seven. Nishi came over to him, showing him her coin with a wild on it. When the elvish fighter with the eight coin stepped up to the two of them, Nishi gave Hiei a fierce smirk, taking the number eight coin from the elvish fighter. She stood in line with him while they watched the king and prince fight. While he was excited at the idea to fight Nishi once again, he felt disappointed that he could not fight a fresh opponent.

The king and the prince stepped up into the circle of stone that was the arena. The prince's hair shown, even from a distance, like spun sunlight. He summoned up a bow from his own energy in his hand, an arrow of the same shimmer in his other hand. The king stood across from him, his own conjured up energy bow and arrow. A bit like father, like son by the looks of it. Both of them looked up at the queen sitting in the stands, with the cousin next to her, his and the beauty's son sitting beside him. The queen brought her hands together, and clapped once.

The prince fired first. He aimed and fired an arrow at the king. The arrow spun through the air, but the king dodged it at the last second. He then fired his own arrow at the prince mid roll. The prince dodged, but rolled in a predictable direction. The king caught onto it, sending an arrow firing towards where the prince halted. The well aimed arrow sliced through the air, skinning the prince on the outside of his shoulder. He hissed, looking annoyed at his father. The prince rolled to his feet, getting up and running towards the king recklessly. He shot a series of arrows as he ran, each one the king dodged, two looked like bare misses.

When the prince got close enough to the king, he summoned away his bow and arrows, preferring to go barehanded and to turn this into a fist fight. The prince punched at the king, keeping at a close distance to the king. The fists being thrown were well crafted, well aimed, both between the prince and the king, but the king had the advantage. It was mostly the king looking like he was training the prince in a fist fight now, pushing the younger one to show off his strength and skill.

Eventually the king seemed to grow bored though. He overpowered the the prince, taking him down to the ground, and pinning him there with a knee in his lower back until the prince gave in.

The prince looked flustered when he gave in and the king hauled him up to his feet, and brushing off his back. The king let loose a deep, rolling laugh, speaking quietly to the prince as they left the arena. From the distance, Hiei heard his girl laugh, mutter something that sounded a lot like, "vain boy."

"Next!" the king barked, nodding over at the twins. Hiei noticed his eyes were only on his girl though.

The twins made their way into the arena, but then things got interesting. The detective came up to Nishi, tapping her on the shoulder. She looked up at him, confused. Then he said, "tag out," holding up his wild coin. He reached down, taking the number eight coin out of her hand. "I want a rematch," the detective said to Hiei. To Nishi, he said, "so move over. Thems the rules." He gave her a playful shove out of the line up.

Hiei heard a few of those around them laugh at that. Nishi scowled at the detective, but stepped away. She looked down the line debating where she wanted to go to fight. Hiei watched her go two pairs back, taking a coin from an elvish woman with wild, dirty blonde hair. She stepped up to fight the stranger.

Hiei turned back to watch the fight between the twins about to take place. The two of them stood in the center of the arena. The queen clapped. Her boy knelt down to his girl, whispering something in her ear. Whatever he said, put a large smile across her face. She turned around, half jumping, half running a few feet away from him.

His girl summoned up her fire dragon around her neck. Hiei could sense, almost feel the heat radiating off of it. He could smell the slight scent of singed hair coming from her. Hiei looked over at her boy. He had his ice dragon hanging over his neck, and dangling around his torso. Hiei clicked his teeth. Nishi had told both of them not to use their dragons. Her boy seemed to have other ideas.

His girl gave a loud shriek, inflaming her dragon's powers, blazing the air around her. Izo did the same with his ice dragon, only this time, freezing the air around him. Their energies surrounded them, a red sphere and a light blue sphere. When the spheres grew bigger, the rubbed against each other. Where they came in contact, sparks danced. His girl pushed her sphere to get bigger, colliding with her boy's sphere. Then her boy grew his sphere, pressing against his girl's sphere. It created a thunderous explosion.

Hiei shielded his eyes, waiting for the light and sound to fade. When they did, he opened his eyes, blinking at cratered dent left in the center of the arena. Neither child was anywhere to be seen. He felt panic set in, but then heard two different sets of laughter.

To his left, he saw his girl, half laying, half sitting up by the wall. She was laughing loudly and joyfully. To the right, her boy was staggering to his knees, with a bits of dust and rubble from the dent he made in the wall behind them. He was smirking to himself, loosing on a small burst of laughter.

His girl was up on her feet, running towards the arena. Her boy looked surprised at her, and followed suit. His girl was faster, being smaller in stature, climbing into arena first of the two of them. Her boy did it more gracefully though. Once in the arena, she ran over to him, skidding to a halt in front of him, toe to toe.

Her boy smirked down at her. "No weapons?" he asked her, barely loudly enough for Hiei to hear. "No energy? No dragons? Just fists?"

She smiled up at him, nodding her head vigorously. His girl attacked first, fighting between the two of them. Each of them fought as they had been trained, to use their different sizes to their advantages. His girl tried to stayed close and tight in the fight, using her knees and elbows. Her boy tried to keep his distances, moving away from her to use the length of his arms and legs to give him strength to his punches and kicks.

"Damn it," Hiei swore under his breath.

Her boy gained distance from his girl, then swung a sharp right hook at her. It came in contact with the side of his girl's head. Her head turned from the contact, making her stagger and then fall down. She pushed herself up sideways, arms shaking as the held her upper body off the ground. Her legs laid together beneath her. She shifted her body, pushing and pulling herself to get on her elbows and knees. She replaced her elbows with her hands. She did the same with one of knees with her foot, but the way she placed her foot was all wrong. It crossed over to the other side of her body. When she went to bring her other foot up, her ankles tangled, bringing her back down to her hands and knees.

"That's match!" the king roared out his ruling.

"No," his girl pouted.

Her boy stepped over to her, helping her up. Silently, he raised his hand over where he had struck her, healing her. Once he finished healing her, she shoved him away ruefully. She jumped out of the arena, storming off. Her boy followed suit.

Hiei did not move, but relayed to his girl, 'you stay with your brother and go to the stands, or else you will wish you had.' He stayed in her mind long enough to see she listened begrudgingly to him. She and her boy made their way to the stands.

Then Hiei looked up, coming back into focus with the area around him. The next pair was up in front of him, starting their fight. Yet the detective was no longer standing next to him. It was elf with wild blonde hair. The wild elf smirked at him, introducing herself as Aiko.


	76. Chapter 76

Nanashi stood next to Yasha, watching the beginning of the match between the twins. It irked her to no end to see them set each others dragon on each other, creating an explosion that blasted both of them off the arena and into the opposite walls. They both rose up and were okay at least. Until she got to either of them anyway.

She was distracted from the fight however when she saw Kurama step up her and Yasha, standing there calmly with his hands buried in his pockets. He stared at Yasha expectantly. Yasha swore at him, but handed over his coin none the less to Kurama. He went back in the line, looking for a new person to fight.

Kurama stood next to her, eyes on the twins fighting. "You know why they did it, don't you?"

Nanashi looked up at him, and then back at the twins fighting. "Did what?"

"Proved their abilities to all the adults here, showed their strength," Kurama said. "Wise decision. Keeps them from looking like a bunch of weak kids. Don't come down hard on them for it."

Nanashi clicked her teeth, thinking over his observation. They were young. Eleven. They were also the first children to be a mix of all four races. Maybe proving how strong they were in front of these other fighters was not such a bad idea.

The two of them fought each other hard, Hikari trying to keep close while Izo tried to keep his distance.

Nanashi looked up, two sets ahead of her and Kurama was Hiei and Yusuke. She twitched her nose, still rather annoyed at Yusuke, even though they made up. If Hiei won that fight, she would find it rather enjoyable to watch. That was until she heard someone huff behind her. The woman she had tagged out against Yasha. She had been tagged out by another elf. Nanashi watched her first go up to Ayane, asking her to pair with her. When Ayane refused her, the woman walked towards the front of the line.

Nanashi looked back, watching the twins fight. Izo struck Hikari rather hard on the side of her head. It knocked her down. When she tried to stand up, she twisted her legs together, bringing her back down to the ground. The king called the match, with Hikari visibly and vocally not happy about that. She charged off, with Izo following after her. He would stay with her, Nanashi was certain of it.

She looked back over at Hiei and Yusuke, seeing the woman Ayane refused to fight standing next to Hiei now. Yusuke was walking his way towards her, flicking his newly earned wild coin in the air. He snatched it out of the air, palm up. He closed it in his fist. He held his fist out to Nanashi, but at the last second, pulled it away from her and held it out to Kurama, palm open.

"If I can't get a rematch with him, I'll get one with you," Yusuke said as he and Kurama traded coins.

"I don't lose as often as I did as a child," she warned.

"I still win just as often," Yusuke responded cockily. "You still pissed off?"

"A little bit," she answered coyly. "A good fight will sort my temper," she replied.

She stood with him, waiting, watching the next match between two elvish nights she did not really know. It was over pretty fast between the two of them. She watched Hiei stepped up with his opponent.

She turned down, looking behind her to see Yasha standing with a new opponent. "Whose that?" she asked him quietly.

"Aiko, a knight. She can be quite vicious," Yasha answered in a sing song voice. "This should be interesting to watch..."

The two of them stood across from the each other. When Queen Minha's clap echoed across the area for them to start, Aiko wasted no time. She drew the dagger sheathed at her hip in her right hand and slammed her left hand palm down on the stone arena. The stone cracked beneath her palm, sending a shaky shock wave underneath that split the stone on its way towards where Hiei was standing. Hiei jumped out of the way of the shock wave in the ground, but Aiko had planned for that. She charged towards him, dagger slicing at his throat. Nanashi did not blink, looking for any sign of blood. It only cut across his scarf, nothing more. That did not stop her breath from catching in her throat.

Hiei was faster though. He landed on the balls of his feet, dodging her as she chased after him. When he reached a hand down to grab his sword, she would slice at him. Nanashi winced when she saw the red line the dagger left on the back of his hand. She smiled arrogantly, pausing too long. Hiei caught her right wrist in his left hand, squeezing it hard. Aiko winced twice, dropping her dagger between the two of them. He still kept a firm grip on her wrist.

Unexpectedly, Aiko brought her head back, and then forward, head butting him. His head whipped back, exposing his throat, which she locked her free left hand around. Hiei let go of her broken right wrist, hands seizing the hand clasped around his throat. Nanashi hoped he would break that one, too. Whoever this Aiko was, she was, Yasha was right to call her vicious.

Aiko, likely not wanting her other wrist broken, let him go and weaseled her hand out of his grip. She shoved him back and away from her with her left shoulder and upper body. It gave her time to pick up the abandoned dagger off the ground with her left hand. Hiei took the chance to gain distance, coming at her with his sword out so fast Nanashi missed seeing him draw it. Aiko jumped at him from a crouching position, aiming to drive her dagger through his middle. He had his sword now. He stopped her dagger mid thrust. The two of them were locked together, bladed forming a 'T' shape between the two of them. Aiko's left arm shook visibly, but Hiei's stayed calm and still. Nanashi felt so certain he had won the match then and there.

Aiko moved unexpectedly yet again. In a well aimed move, she pushed off the balls of her feet, and rolled low and forward, right into Hiei's knees. She shoved him off balance. It sent both of them tumbling out of the arena and onto the grass below. She had lost her dagger in the fall, and had made sure Hiei lost his grip on his sword as well. She was over top of him, knee driving into the space between his ribs and the heel of her left hand pressing hard against his throat.

Nanashi winced at the sight of it, half tempted to use the wind dragon to allow him to breathe, but knowing he would never forgive her if she interfered. Nanashi then felt a chill crawl down her spine as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Evil, something pure evil was rolling off of Hiei now. His hands were inflamed with hellfire. He took both hands, clinging to Aiko's left forearm. Aiko screamed as her arm burned. She yanked her arm away from him, still remaining on top of his prone form. He brought his hands down to the outsides of both of her thighs. She cried out, kicking herself away from him. She tried to stand, but her legs gave out.

Hiei rolled up, looming over her. "Get up," he told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I yield, damn you," she swore up at him.

"Match!" King Hayate called nearby, making Nanashi jump. "I think we're going to need a healer down here."

Yasha tapped Nanashi on the shoulder, making her look back at him. "There's always a healer needed when Aiko finishes a fight. Or a body bag. Nice to see her put on the receiving end for a change."


	77. Chapter 77

Once a healer had helped Hiei and Aiko, the next two matches went on, both dull affairs compared to Hiei's match. Nanashi watched them calmly, waiting patiently for her fight between her and Yusuke to start. No one had tagged either of them out, which made her hopeful that they could get their match after all. She watched Hiei, with twins now in the stands near the queen, intermittently. He was healed, was fine, but Aiko was not afraid to go for blood. She shook her head, shaking off the feeling in her gut. She needed to focus on her match against Yusuke coming up. She looked up at the arena, seeing the two elvish knights up there. One was about to win.

"You're kidding me," she heard Yusuke say next to her. Nanashi looked over at him, seeing Ayane standing next to him, holding out her wild coin. Yusuke traded her reluctantly.

"Match!" King Hayate called. The two elves left the arena after that, neither of them needing a healer for that lack luster affair.

Ayane went ahead of her, jumping into the arena. Nanashi felt a hand come to her shoulder. Yasha briefly whispered in her ear, "cover your ears." He then gave her a playful shove towards the arena.

She climbed into in carefully rather than clumsily. She felt her heart race. She looked over at Ayane, trying to remember what she knew about her. She was a sound elf. She used to be king's guard, before she married Jiro. They only had one child. Nanashi shook her head, trying to focus. She felt caught off guard by the last minute tag out, making her unsure how to approach this match.

The queen's clap rang out. They could start. Before Nanashi could move, she saw Ayane blow two kisses into the crowd, one for Jiro, and one for their son, Shura. Jiro smiled down at her, nodding. Shura pretended to catch his kiss in his hand. She was still very much in love with Jiro.

Ayane then turned back to Nanashi, pulling her knife from her hip. "My husband gave me this blade," she said in a quiet sing song voice. She brought the knife up to her mouth, singing a haunting tune into it. The sound made Nanashi feel dizzy on her feet. The intricate carvings along the blade glowed with a faint, rainbow light. She stopped, brought it in front of her, and twirled it around her hands.

Nanashi summoned up her wind dragon, forming a battle ax, readying herself to charge Ayane the second she moved. Ayane halted the blade. Nanashi charged forward. Ayane brought her knife into her left hand, carving an arc in the air that went from above her head to blow her hip line. The arc threw a flash of translucent rainbow light accompanied with a soft song right at Nanashi. Nanashi changed direction, dodging that light. She looked up, seeing Ayane had swung the knife in the air, sending another arc towards her. Nanashi tried to dodge that one, getting caught by the bottom of it in her left upper arm. Her arm was barely scratched, just a simple red line. The sound that emanated from it however was dreadful torture. It was high pitch, sounding on impact. The sound seemed to bore its way into her left ear until it felt stuffed to the brim with silence. She brought her hand up to her ear, feeling it wet and slick as she brought her finger into it. She could hear nothing out of it.

"Your newfound deafness isn't permanent," Ayane explained loud enough for her to hear. "It can be healed. Had you been hit in the chest, well, I would likely not be able to explain myself. Do try not to be hit a second time."

Ayane brought the blade up. Half of it still glowed with rainbow light, while the other half was dark. She swung it at Nanashi, more like a whip in the air than a knife. By now she had summoned away her wind dragon to just rest upon her neck, needing her hands to move and dodge. She needed to get Ayane to burn out the energy in her knife and then keep her from breathing so she could not recharge the blade with that sound energy of hers.

Nanashi swore aloud when the last arc Ayane threw dug its light across the top of her right shoulder, deafening her there now to. She could hear nothing. No heart beat. No breath. No sound. No whistle of the wind. She shook her head, trying to shake off the disorientation. Deaf or not, she could still win this fight.

She looked up, seeing Ayane smirk at her. She brought the blade up to her mouth, ready to sing into it anew. Nanashi, wind dragon still draped over her shoulders, raised her right hand up. She took away Ayane's ability to breathe. No breath, no sound energy.

Ayane froze, hardly a sliver of energy dancing in the knife's blade. Maybe enough for one or two arcs of light. She reached up, grabbing her own throat, looking bewildered. Nanashi could only feel, not hear, her lungs draw deep, quick breaths in and out. Keeping Ayane from breathing was going to exhaust her too quickly if she did nothing else. She had to wrestle the knife away from her if she was going to have a chance.

Nanashi ran at her, doing her best to concentrate on keeping Ayane from breathing. She was up and next to her, trying to wrestle the knife from Ayane's hand. Ayane struggled against her, blinking. Her pupils looked larger, her lips paler, showing signs she was slowing down from lack of air. Ayane would not give up the blade though, as Nanashi tried to pry it from her hand. Ayane squinted up at her. She kicked her hard in the shin repeatedly. Nanashi, shaking now and sweaty from the effort, let her go so she could breathe once more. It was either that or pass out herself.

Ayane took a deep breath and arced the blade between them. Even though Nanashi could not hear the sound, she was blown back by it though, a higher speed than expected. She was thrown out of the arena, back slamming into the wall below the stands with painful smack. She collapsed on her hands and knees, debry and dust from the damaged wall around her. She hunched over, coughing up a large amount of blood. She spat out a mouthful of it, feeling the urge to panic. Her chest hurt wretchedly. She could hardly draw a breath. Her lungs were damaged by the arc. She would not drown on the blood, she knew, because of the wind dragon. She did her best to stand up, spitting out another mouthful of blood. She wrapped her left arm around her middle. She drew her own knife, old and ordinary though it was, from her hip. She did not want to be counted out just yet.

She looked over at Ayane standing in the middle of the arena. She looked surprised to even see Nanashi standing. Ayane looked over at King Hayate, her lips moving, but Nanashi could not make out a word she was saying. The king shrugged, shaking his head. Ayane looked offended by his response. Nanashi leaned over, spitting out more blood.

Ayane jumped from the arena, moving swiftly over to her. Nanashi raised her knife up, but was no match for Ayane in her state. Ayane wrestled the ordinary knife from her hand, holding both knives now in her hands. Nanashi coughed, retching up a foul mix of blood. Ayane stood before her. "Yield," she mouthed.

Nanashi shook her head, hardly in a fighting state as it was. She felt woozy on her feet. She could not hear, could not breathe on her own, could not avoid the taste of blood coating her mouth. She saw Ayane throw her ordinary knife down to the ground, blade burying its way into the grass. Ayane brought up her free hand, striking her in the side of her neck with the outside of her hand.

The last thing Nanashi noticed was the painful blackness that rushed up and overwhelmed her.


	78. Chapter 78

Watching Father's battle had been difficult, but watching Mother's was down right nightmarish for Hikari. She was sitting with Izo, Father, Queen Minha, Lord Jiro, Lord Jiro's son Shura, and that vain boy prince. As well as their guards and various others. Hikari nearly jumped out off her chair at the sight of Mother struggling to stand up. She spat up blood, more than Hikari could imagine possible.

She had stayed seated, but the vain boy prince jumped up to his feet. "The angel," he gasped, stepping towards railing in front of him.

"Sit down, Takashi," Queen Minha said softly. "She'll be quite alright. She's an experienced fighter. Besides, healers are nearby."

The vain boy turned back to look at his mother, then a studying look at look at Father who sat there looking impassive, but lastly stayed rooted on his feet. Mother spat up another mouthful of blood. She stumbled over towards Lady Ayane, her knife in hand.

Lady Ayane looked over at King Hayate, asking, "is that match, your grace?"

King Hayate, shrugged and shook his head. "The angel is still standing."

Mother grimaced, spitting out yet another mouthful of blood. Lady Ayane went over to Mother, shouting, "Yield!" in her face.

Mother shook her head, looking uncertain on her feet. Lady Ayane stole her knife out of her hands, tossing it to the ground, blade first. Lady Ayane then struck Mother on the side of the neck. Mother crumpled to the ground, almost graceful as she fell.

"The angel!" the vain boy exclaimed, turning around to face the lot of them. "Why... why would Lady Ayane be so... aggressive," he growled in frustration. "You ought to learn to tame your wife," he grumbled in Lord Jiro's direction.

Hikari stayed still, shocked to hear such a statement from the vain boy. Lord Jiro looked aghast, flustered in his own right. He made a few sounds, but no actual words in frustration. The vain boy then stormed off.

Queen Minha jumped up, calling out, "Takashi, where are you going?!" Queen Minha looked around the small band of them, trying to hold together her decorum. Her eyes roamed over to Hikari. "Lady Hikari, could you please go get him and tell him to come back here," she requested.

Hikari rose up to her feet automatically, heading in the direction the vain boy went. She heard Father groan softly under his breath. "Go with her," he barked over to Brother.

Hikari stopped, waiting for Brother to join her. "She can do it herself, Izo," Queen Minha said with certainty. Father grunted, saying nothing as Brother shuffled his feet before sitting down. "Quickly now, my dear."

Hikari turned, jogging into the small arena, sensing after the vain boy. She stumbled, thrown off when she heard Father's voice in her head. 'Don't antagonize him. If he refuses, come immediately back.'

Hikari shook her head, but kept going. The vain boy had moved quicker than she expected. She caught to him as he had reached the side room Mother had been in with an elvish healer. She entered the room with him, surprising him as she stopped next to him.

"Great Mother!" he swore, seeing Hikari next to her. He jumped as he spoke.

"Pay attention to your surroundings," she told him, echoing words Father had taught her.

Mother sat up rigid on the cot she was sitting on. There was a healer sitting beside her, holding a bucket out in front of her. Mother looked up at them. Her face was pale, green and sickly. The smell of blood with an off scent wafted up from the bucket, turning Hikari's stomach.

"You shouldn't be here," Mother insisted, looking offended. "I'm fine." She then coughed hard, which made her retch. She winced, blood and then some spilling out of her mouth and into the bucket.

The vain boy stepped closer to Mother, concern dripping in his voice. "My angel, are you okay? Mhmm," he grumbled. He stopped short of her when he looked like he would rather be right by her side. "Yosei, did you not heal her?" he asked the healer next to Mother.

"Your grace, yes, I healed her wounds," the healer rattled out.

"But there was still blood in my lungs," Mother moaned distastefully. "You don't need to be here," she added in a half annoyed, half offended tone. A hacking cough tore through her, but she tried to suppress it. "You can go," she choked. "Both of you... please."

"Don't suppress, angel," the healer, Yosei, soothed. "The sooner you get that blood out of your lungs, the better."

Mother coughed harder, spitting up foamy blood from her mouth straight into the bucket.

"Mother..." Hikari said, stepping towards the pair of them, overtaking the vain boy.

"Please, just go," Mother requested once more. "You're making me look weak..." she mumbled.

The vain boy looked offended. "My angel... you're an angel. Not a demon..."

Mother looked up at him, half scowling. "I'll be fine." Hikari felt half certain she was lying.

"Let's go," Hikari said. "Your mother said to come back," she told him firmly.

"Please," Mother said, coughing hard. She looked displeased.

"Yes, my angel," the vain boy relented. He stepped towards her, but then gave it a second thought, and walked out of the room.

Hikari looked at Mother, shifting her feet. "See you later then, Mother," she murmured.

"Thank you," Mother answered, groaning.

Hikari left the room, following after the vain boy in the hallway. He was grumbling to himself about how horrible a healer that Yosei was. It was like he did not understand even when wounds are healed, like ruptured lungs, the blood lost from the wound still exists. Still has to be dealt with.

When he noticed her, it did not take long before he turned around, rounding on her. "Why?" he growled down at her, standing far too close to her, toe to toe.

"Why what?" she asked, accosted by him.

"Why is she so like a demon?" he asked. "She's an angel." He turned away, huffing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she responded, huffing.

"If she were demon, she would be upset that we went to her. She would feel like we were making her look weak," he grumbled.

She stared at him, not quite understanding what he was getting at. "My father's a demon," she stated.

"And an elf," the vain boy turned back towards him. "He should be sitting down there with her, for moral support at least. That's the elvish way." She studied him, mouth gaping open. "What did she ever see in him anyway? A demonic-elvish bastard who grew up nomadic. Would still be that way, had he not been arrested and sent to the fighting pits." He was pacing in the hallway. "His father was monstrous, abusive, and insane. Lost his title for it. Won't even go to his own wife after what she's been through... So... ugh... So demonic." The vain boy turned away from her, starting to walk back the way their families were.

Hikari thought about his sudden, unexpected words. "My grandfather...?" she thought aloud. She and Brother had been told scant about him, beyond he was an elf related to the king distantly. She shook her head, thinking to ask about it with Mother later. She stormed after him, incised in the midst of her confusion. "You're the prince of this country, and yet you don't understand the way demons think. The way we think."

He halted, turning back to her. "Wild creatures, most of them. Valuing brute strength over most things, including love. Most of those who can carry a conversation are hardly civilized. We'd likely be better off without the North. Without Alaric."

She stared at him, shocked. "You think you know my father? That you know demons?" she preempted before charging at him.

She struck first, even though she knew she would be at fault for the fight. Yet she kept at him, kept hitting him. She was unsure how long she had been fighting for when Father showed up. By that time, she had been on top of the vain boy's back, hand yanking on his hair, messing it up on purpose. Father grabbed her around the middle, hauling her off the vain boy and then shoving her down to the ground and onto her back a few feet away.

The vain boy staggered to his feet, seething. "You wild demon bitch," he swore at her. His hands were already in his hair, trying to do damage control.

She growled at him, getting a second wind. She made to stand up, but Father shoved her back down, keeping between the two of them intentionally.

"Go back to your mother," Father ordered the vain boy.

The vain boy shook his head. Father loosened his sword in its scabbard. The vain boy's eyes went wide. He went his way back down towards the queen in a controlled rush.

Father watched him go. Without turning to face her, he said, "I told you not to antagonize him."

Hikari frowned. "I didn't..." she started.

Father turned around to face her. She stayed on the ground, resisting the urge whimper, but ended up scooting back. "You hit him when you should have just ignored all he whining."

"He said-" she started.

"I know what he said," Father cut her off. "Get up," he ordered her. She avoided looking at him as rose up. "Hurry up," he snapped when she was half way standing.

He grabbed her firmly by the sleeve of her shirt, yanking her along with him at a pace she could hardly manage to keep up with. They reached the vain boy almost before he reached the door to his mother.

"What do you want?" the vain boy grumbled.

Father shoved her forward, between the two of them. If she never saw the vain boy again, it would be too soon. "Apologize," he demanded.

Her mouth hung open, looking back at Father. The harshness in his gaze let her know he was talking to her and he meant it.

"But he said..." she started, feeling her eyes prick. She face forward, muttering, "sorry," as quietly as she could manage.

The prince said nothing, looking at her like she was beneath him. He looked over her head at Father and then back at her. "Sure you are," he stated. He turned away and went back to his mother, shutting the door with a slam behind him.

Hikari brought her hands up to her face, letting herself cry into them. She promised herself she would hate the vain boy for the rest of her life.


	79. Chapter 79

The queen hosted a banquet, another one. This time to say good bye to the cousin, the beauty, and their son. They were going to stay in Gandara, the land they owned. Good riddance. The beauty left a bad taste in Hiei's mouth. She could have killed Nishi with her last sound arc attack. Nishi would have drowned in her own blood if it were not for her wind dragon. At least too that healer had been swift to get to her and aid her in getting the arduous process of removing the blood from her lungs.

Hiei skipped out of the banquet, disappearing right before Nishi and the twins went into the dining hall. He had already warned Nishi he would do that, but kept the twins from knowing lest his girl try the same move. He stayed a bit in Nishi's mind though, just until they were settled. The twins did not even notice his absence until after they were seated with Nishi. His girl complained when she realized what he had done, but Nishi subdued her, explaining she had to be here as the lady of Alaric. That explanation warranted her a huff, but no more complaints.

Hiei left Nishi's mind after that, settling himself on the roof of one of the towers of the castle, enjoying the cool evening air. Peaceful and quiet. He would have preferred to enjoy it with Nishi up here with him. After his fight with the elf and her fight with the beauty, his blood was up. Seeing her fight someone else like that, even though she lost, excited him. She was strong, even after all these years. And stubborn. She refused to give up on her fight, even when she clearly had lost. He closed his eyes, thinking about her.

His eyes flicked open and he looked behind him, hearing someone open the trap door in the floor behind him. His eyes narrowed as he saw the king poke his head through the trap door. It was disappointing that it was not Nishi coming up here to join him instead. He sensed she was still at the winding down banquet, trying to sneak herself and the twins away since the three of them were rather tired.

"What do you want?" Hiei asked the king, turning around to face him, arms crossed over his chest.

"I didn't see you at the banquet. Was wondering where you went to," the king answered. Hiei felt half tempted to laugh as he watched the large framed elf struggle a bit to get himself through the trap door. "Cozy up here," the king commented as he kicked the door shut. "Private, too."

"Was private," Hiei grumbled under his breath.

"Perfect for just the two of us," the king commented.

Hiei looked the king over, a hint of disgust on his face. "I'm married," he said, letting the disgust show in his voice.

"And happily so, I've noticed," the king complimented. "Some marriages wane after the years, especially with... secrets." Hiei made no response. "You know, the blood bond treaty never said you didn't have to tell your wife about our agreement. Minha knows. Takashi knows he has been betrothed, but not to whom. I think based on the size and age of her, five more years should do it."

"No," Hiei cut out, even as a pain started up in his chest. He wished he had never signed the damned thing. "I release you from the treaty," he stated, noticing the ache in his chest disappeared.

The king laughed at that. "That's not how that works, and you know that. You can't just verbally free someone from a blood bond treaty. It takes blood magic to free someone. So unless you want to go track down a dark crone like the one that once harvested you, you're welcome to try," the king suggested. "Last I heard though, the lot of them have gone extinct decades ago. Otherwise, Lord Mukuro might still be here, stealing life spans to buy herself immortality." The king sighed. "You had a daughter, an angel blooded daughter, within two years of your marriage, as you agreed. Who better for her anyway, than the crown prince? Besides, who knows, if I am unlucky and you are lucky, you might see her crowned queen next to my son one day."

"She should get to chose," Hiei grumbled. Nanashi liked to talk like, in hopes one day that when both of the twins grew up. She had brought up that she would never want either of them pushed into a marriage they did not want on her own volition. "Besides, he's far too arrogant."

"You took that choice away from her before she was even born," the king pointed out. "Back when Nanashi was discovered, had she been younger or my son older, I would have wed them instead. An angelic line would be forever blessed, or so legends goes. Your daughter is the next best thing. My son ages slow, and your daughter will age fast. They'll match well enough. Even if they did have a bit of spat today. When they are older, they'll grow out of such reckless behavior."

"Not if I kill him first," Hiei threatened.

The king shook his head dismissively. "You won't touch him. Your wife dotes on him. She's his hero. I doubt you would ever be able to look her in the eye again if you did that." He hummed. "Then again, you have yet to tell her of Hikari's betrothal. How about instead, he dies and I even remotely suspect you, then Nanashi dies not long after." A heavy silence hung around them after that. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my queen may be wondering where I've disappeared to. Yours may be feeling the same way."

Hiei watched him go, tempted to go after him and figure something, anything out to get out of that treaty. It was a stupid thing to sign. He could have denied the king and wed Nishi in secret like he actually did before the king tried to pass her off to some other elf. He regretted not thinking of that move until after signing in blood.

Hiei left the tower, not wanting to be there anymore now that the king had intruded in his privacy. He slipped into his quarters shared with his family. The twins each had their own rooms at far end of the quarters. Nishi and his on the other side. It was private, which he needed just now.

He went into their bedroom, seeing a tray of food left out for him on a coffee table in the middle of the room. Nishi laid in the guest bed, pajama clad, in the middle of it, and sprawled out on her side. Her arm stretched out to the side he slept on. Five more years. He had just five more years before she might be lost to him forever.

He ignored the food, coming over to Nishi, wanting her more in the moment. She jumped as his lips came in contacts with hers. He kissed her, shoving her down on the bed on her back. He took the lead on the kissing, slipping his tongue inside of hers. Even as she started to try to squirm away, he refused to let her go. He brought his knee between her legs, making her spread them for him. He pulled away from her, raising his head above hers. She looked up at him, panting. He brought his hand down to the side of her head, stroking her ear. Her hearing had not been difficult for the healer to restore. His hand stroked down to her chest, with him moving to make room for it. He rested his hand on her ribs, underneath her breasts. She sucked down a deep breath, raising his hand up as she inhaled. So strong. So stubborn.

"Mine," he purred down at her. He sat up over top of her stripping his upper body bare. "Only mine." She gave him an aroused look. "Forever mine."

He was off of her, stripping her down in a rush. She laid naked before him. Part of him wanted to take her slow, but the other part of him wanted her immediately. The immediate desire won out. He move off of her, just long enough to have his lower body stripped down. She watched him, panting, looking flushed. He looked her over, wanting to groan just at the sight of her. She shyly spread her legs apart before him. She raised her upper body up on one elbow. She beckoned him forward with her free hand.

He was on top of her and inside of her as fast as he could. He pressed himself against her, going slow and deep at first. He pushed the speed when he felt her relax on him. The increased speed made her cling to him, both arms and legs. "Mine," he growled in her ear. She grew tighter around him, soft moan escaping her lips. "Mine," he told her, a little louder.

"Yes," she replied. She was so close, squirming against him.

He did not relent. "Forever," he pleaded.

"Yes," she panted.

Her lower back arched. He pressed down against her, making her come. When she came down, she relaxed against him. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. He looked away from her, pulling out of her.

She gave him a confused look. "Turn over," he instructed her. She gave him a lustful look.

She turned over as requested, coming to rest of her knees. He shoved her down to her stomach instead, making her grunt. He went back inside of her, pressing against her, touching her as much as he could. She was moaning quietly for him now, trying to make sure her voice was subdued. This position made in most difficult for her to be quiet, especially when he pinned her down. He shoved her shoulders down, pushing them into the bed. She moaned and squirmed beneath him. He slammed into her repeatedly, rendering her completely at his mercy. She turned her head, burying her face into the bed sheets beneath her, muting her screams as much as possible. It did not take him long after that to follow her.

He pulled out of her, stomach growling loudly as moved. She laughed softly at the sound, rolling herself to rest on her side. He climbed off the bed, going for the glass of water sitting on the tray. He drained half the glass before setting it back down on the tray. He looked over at her, noticing the lusty look still resting in her eyes. She still laid sensuously on her side. "You thought you were going to lose me today," she accused him. "Pretty obvious when you fuck me like that," she said boldly. He watched her, trying to read her. "I'm not going anywhere," she sighed, a playful smile lighting up her face. He walked away from the untouched tray, and back over to the bed.

Once he had her overly sated and exhausted, he left her to her recovery sleep. He rose up, feeling his hip pop in a now familiar manner. He went passed the tray, ignoring it. There was something else more pressing to take care of now.

It did not take him long to reach the fox's and the stranger's rooms. He pounded on the main door and then waited impatiently. He was about to pound again, when he heard the fox's groggy voice muttering behind the door.

The fox opened the door, but only a crack wide enough for his face to be visible, "Hiei? What is it?" He stifled a yawn.

Hiei pushed the door open, entering the main room the fox and the stranger shared together. The fox groaned behind him. He looked over at the fox, seeing him shirtless. He chest had a reddish tint to it. His hair was a bit of a tangled mess, more so than usual.

"Where's Yasha?" Hiei asked.

"Sleeping," the fox answered.

"Was sleeping," the voice of the stranger said behind him, coming from the doorway to the bedroom. Unlike the fox, the stranger had not bother to put a pair of pants on. "You know, I'm not sure if right now counts as so late it's early, or so early it's late."

"What are you here for?" the fox asked. "Clearly it must be urgent, if you couldn't wait until morning."

The stranger stepped out of the doorway stretched, unabashed about his nudeness. "If this is about that threesome idea I floated years ago, you should have been here like two or three hours ago. I'm spent, but maybe Kurama would be willing to just lay there for you," he suggested. When the fox growled lowly at his words, the stranger smirked. "The smell coming off of you right now is distinctly angelic. You might be spent yourself."

"I need the two of you find someone for me," Hiei preempted. "None of them are left in Alaric that I know of, thanks to Mukuro's overuse of their magic years ago."

"Who?" the fox asked.

"I need a dark crone," Hiei answered solemnly.


	80. Chapter 80

*Four and a half years later*

Nishi sat with their son on her lap outside, bouncing the infant up and down on her blanketed lap outside. "Kaze," she breathed the child's name. He was bundled up against the cold weather. He was laughing at all her attention.

Hiei had taken a rest from training the twins outside, sitting next to her on the steps of his girl's castle. "Isn't it a bit cold for him out here? Wind elemental and all?" he asked her.

She looked their son over, studying him. Her hand touched his face, checking how warm he was. "He's alright for a few more minutes," she ruled. "Winters up here are freezing. How do you three manage it?" He shrugged. "Demons," she tsked. She turned her attention to their son. "You don't seem as demonic as them," she teased. "Even with that hair." She teased the tuff of black hair poking out under his hood. "Yet those eyes, quite angelic," she smiled. Sky blue, unexpected.

The twins who had been sparring on their own froze. Then Hiei froze. It took over three seconds before Nishi froze herself. Their son began to whimper. Nishi pulled him close to her chest and shoulder.

"Were we expecting anyone?" she asked softly next to him.

Hiei stood up next to her. "If it's that damned wolf pack," he growled.

Nishi shifted, standing up. "Those half wild wolf demons are getting bolder and bolder..." she muttered. She held their on her right side. "I thought they were sticking to attacking on the main road though... We should just go out there and root them out," she side lined.

"We will. Once we know more about them," Hiei countered. Same old argument.

"We should get the king involved," she suggested. "We haven't seen him in a year since Asa moved in. Well, you haven't seen him."

Hiei shushed her after that, keeping his gazed focused at the main gate. Whoever they were sensing were coming closer. "Any sign of danger, you get him inside right away," his tone brokered no argument. She nodded.

Hiei went down the steps towards the main gate, hand ready to grab his sword at a moment's notice. He could sense his girl and her boy flanking him. He could sense Nishi at the stairs, ready to run, even though she was likely unwilling to do so.

When Hiei started to hear the sounds of hooves, he clued into what was going now. It was too soon, six months too soon. He looked back at his girl, her now longer hair pulled up into a high bun to prevent it from being singed. Her fire dragon around her neck. She was ready to fight at a second's notice.

The sound of hooves turned into the sight of hippogriffs, and the sight of the royal standard. They were coming for his girl. There was no stopping the peace that was about to be shattered.

"Mother," her boy shouted behind him. "It's the king." He jogged back towards the castle, fetching her. Damn him.

Nishi came back to the main gates with him, huffing. She stopped standing next to Hiei. She looked nervous, uncomfortable. She shifted their son onto her left hip, smoothing her loose hair down with her right hand. "Why's he here? Did he hear about the wolf pack?" she asked him. "I didn't write him about it..." She looked him over. "You know why he's here?" she asked him, half certain he did.

"I love you," he rushed out, knowing they would have to open the gate before long.

"What?" she asked, caught off guard. "I love you, too," she whispered. Louder, she said, "we should open the gate."

Her boy stepped over, unlocking the gate and pulling it open. The squeakiness of it echoed across the grounds.

"Hikari," Nishi said. "You need to go and greet them first," she explained. "You're the lady of the castle."

Hikari smoothed her hair down, then her outfit. She was sweaty from training earlier, possibly unpresentable, but had no time and no choice. She jogged down the lane towards the royal progress, disappearing into it to find the king. He watched her go, hating the sight of it.

"Izo, please take Kaze inside," Nishi said, passing their son to her boy. Their son began to cry, being removed from her. "Take him to his nanny, please. And warn the staff to make rooms up for the royal family and retinue."

Their son was hardly comforted by her boy, crying more as her boy jogged off and into the castle.

Hiei wasted no time once both sons were away. He turned to Nishi, grabbing her, pulling her close, and kissing her with passion. She panted, pulling away.

"What's got you so worried?" she asked seriously. He turned away, looking down the road of the main gate. She stepped up next to him, taking his hand in hers firmly. "Whatever it is, we'll face it together," she promised.


	81. Chapter 81

Hikari jogged down the lane, nervous at the sight of a sudden small royal progress coming into Alaric. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She wondered why they were here, why Father was so nervous. They did have a large, marauding pack of wolf demon bothering travels on the roads and the villages and the towns in her territory, but Father and Mother could not seem to agree how to handle them. Maybe the king had heard of them and came to help...

She located the royal carriage that likely held the queen and the vain boy prince. The king road astride a massive hippogriff, liking it was the best beast to hold his massive, muscular form.

"Your grace," she said, bowing low before him.

The king slipped off of his stead, bowing down at her as well. She felt tiny next to him, even though she had grown to just shy of Father's height. "My lady," the king said, straightening up. He took his hippogriff's reins in his hand before the beast could even consider moving on its own accord. Once he stopped, everyone else and every beast seemed to stop, freeze even, just because he did. "You've grown," he commented, looking her over in an odd way.

"Yes, my king," she said. "Why are you here?" she asked, too bluntly. "Your grace."

King Hayate just smiled down at her. "To meet with you, little one." He beckoned her over. She stepped over to him hesitantly. Without a word, he hoisted her up, helping her to sit astride his massive hippogriff. She fear almost that her pants would split from this. "You've ridden a hippogriff, before. Have you not? I gave your parents two."

"Yes, your grace," she said, jumping as the beast lurched forward. She thought about the hippogriffs they had now. Six of them. Mother was trying her luck to breed them.

The king held fast to his hippogriff's reins, leading her towards the main gate of her castle. He cut in front the guard and the others in front of them. They made way for her and the king. She saw from the vantage point her parents standing in front of the open gate, holding hands. Father was bristling, which was peculiar to her. He disliked seeing the royals, but it seems like he would want to do nothing more than to chases the lot of them off.

"Your grace," Mother greeted King Hayate, bowing before him. Father no more than bent his neck. "What brings you here, my king?"

"To meet with you three privately, it's been quite a while since I have last seen you," King Hayate told Mother in an almost flirtatious tone.

Hikari slipped off of the hippogriff she was on on the opposite side that King Hayate stood. It was a longer fall than she expected. She managed to land on the balls of her feet, hands coming down around her in a crouching position. She rose up, dusting herself off. She waltzed back around to stand by Father. "We can meet in my presence chamber," she said. "Your grace."

"Let them settle in and rest up first," Father hissed out next to her.

"Oh," Hikari hummed. "Yes, of course."

"The prince, queen, and I can meet with you three while the rest of my men settle in, if you don't mind, Lady Hikari," King Hayate said. Hikari watched a servant run up to the king, taking the reins of his hippogriff without another word from the king. "Alright..." the king started, barking orders with his next breath.

It did not seem like anytime before Hikari was in her presence chamber with the king, queen, vain boy prince, a king's guard, her parents, and Brother.


	82. Chapter 82

Izo did not like this, any of this. The royals showed up at the castle, unannounced. Father was on edge over it, more so than usual when he saw the king. Izo passed Kaze on to Asa in the nursery, the infant still pouting over being separated from Mother. At least Asa was somewhat comforting to him as she soothed him.

After explaining the situation briefly to Asa, he jogged out of the room, going after servants to warn them to make rooms ready the royals and their entourage. He then went to Sister's presence chamber, prepping it there while he sent a servant to fetch tea and refreshments. He smoothed his hair and rumpled clothing down, trying to look somewhat presentable. He roamed over in the room, looking out the bay window, not seeing anything of interest. The lot of them must have been inside and heading to this room by now. When the servant returned with tea and refreshments, Izo assisted him to set the table before he scurried away.

As the servant left, the three royals, their guard, the elf Aiko, Hikari, Mother, and Father came into the presence chamber with him. Izo bowed to the king, greeting him in turn. Hikari sat down at the table, Izo quick to slip into the chair next to her. Mother sat on his other side, while Father stayed standing, moving over to Mother's chair to hover near her there. Izo studied Father out of the corner of his eye. He was acting oddly still. Like Mother would disappear in a puff of smoke if he was not right by her side. Queen Minha sat down on the other side of the table, across from Hikari. She guided Prince Takashi to come over and sit next to her. He sat down in a huff, flipping a chunk of his long hair over his shoulder, running his finger through it absentmindedly. Their guard, Aiko, leaned against the closed door, arms crossed.

King Hayate broke the silence, reaching into the satchel that hung at his side. "I think most of you know why we are here," he preempted, pulling a single piece of aged paper from it.

"The wolf demon pack?" Hikari asked. The king gave her an inquisitive look. "They've become a recent problem in Alaric. They keep attacking on the roads, and the outskirts of some of the villages and towns," she explained. "Guerrilla warfare style."

"We haven't yet figured out how to deal with them yet," Mother explained further, skirting around the argument she had had with Father about them. Mother wanted them rooted out immediately, Father wanted to scout them out to find more information first. They had hardly done anything beyond that. "We could use some help, rooting them out. So to stop them from harassing out people."

"We haven't heard anything about them, yet," the king commented, intrigued. "We can discuss that afterwards, if you like." He held up the paper in front of him. He moved around the table, stopping behind the queen. "This is why we're here," he preempted, before sitting that single piece of paper down in front of Hikari.

Izo leaned towards the paper, but paused when he saw Father grimace. He leaned down over to the paper, skimming it. Hikari had been reading a head of him. She gasped, pushing herself and the chair back. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth. Izo had only a chance to read part, not all of the letter before Mother snatched it up, holding it up in front of her. Father was stepping back from Mother now, ears pulled back, face pale.

Mother broke the silence. "You didn't..." she started softly. "You signed in blood... You..." Mother turned towards Father, rising up to shout, "she wasn't even conceived yet!" She threw the letter down to the table. It flitted there in a lackluster manner. "The same day we married!"

Izo picked up the letter, pulling it over to himself. Signed in blood... the same day they were married... Hikari was betrothed to Prince Takashi in a blood bond treaty.

Mother distracted him. He watched her round on Father who backed away from her. "Why?" her voice cracked. She sounded heart broken. Mother turned away from Father, scowling at King Hayate. "No," she said determinedly. She went over to Hikari, who was sitting there with a stunned look in her eyes. "We're leaving," she choked out, clasping Hikari's hand, yanking her onto her feet. She pulled Hikari to follow her across the room. "Move," Mother stated with icy calm in front of Aiko.

"Your grace?" Aiko asked, looking over at the king.

"No one leaves until this is hashed out," the king ruled.

In the confusion, Prince Takashi had snatched the paper out of Izo's hands, looking it over himself. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked, cursing.

Izo shook his head, still trying to concentrate. Signed in blood... the day they were married... Something was off about those two things being in conjunction.

"I will not marry her!" the prince stated loudly. "You cannot make me! Look at her!"

"Look at me?" Hikari snapped, antagonized now. "Look at you. That's how you show up to my castle," she scoffed. "You knew you were coming here."

"I look presentable, you look like a beast with clothes on," he retaliated.

Hikari went to step towards him, but Mother held her back. "It's not going to happen anyway," she seethed over at the king. "Not unless she chooses him," she ruled.

"Careful now," King Hayate warned her. "Refusing to carry out a blood bond treaty will lead to the death of the signer and anyone who shares his blood." King Hayate looked over at Father, who had been standing there impassively. "I figured you were the one who sent Yasha and Kurama to look for a dark crone. Yasha said he was only in it for the exploration and adventure."

Mother perked up. "A dark crone could free her?"

The king shook his head, looking smug. "They never found one. They gave up after a year."

Mother turned back to Aiko. "Let us out of here," she growled.

Aiko shook her head. "Try me, angel," she challenged.

Mother took a steadying breath, looking back over at Father, standing in front of the bay window. She moved quickly. Mother shoved passed him, going for the window. She had pulled Hikari with her, but only let her go to open the window. Mother's wind dragon formed a pair of dragon wings on her back. She reached for Hikari, but Hikari stepped back, suddenly looking fearful. "Come with me," she pleaded. Hikari shook her head meekly.

"Nishi," Father dropped his pet name for her.

Mother turned away from them all, jumping from the window.

Prince Takashi rose up, exclaiming, "the angel!" He rushed to the window, looking out of it. "I don't see her."

Izo pulled the blood bond treaty back over to himself. He covered his ears, focusing on the paper in front of him. Blood... right before they wed...

"Father," Izo gasped. Father blinked a few times before looking over at him. "When did Au- When did Yukina give you some of her blood?" Father blinked at him, not comprehending what he was talking about. "After you were attacked by that guy... that bomber... Karusu," he suddenly recalled the name. "You defeated him, but needed blood, so Yukina gave it to you. When?" he pressed. He stood up, walking closer to Father, paper in hand. "Before or after this date?" he pointed to the date the paper was signed.

Father shook his head, like he forgot how to speak. Hikari answered for him. "It was before they married. He came back like two days later and they had their secret wedding. I'm sure of it that that's how Mother told us the story. Before," she fumbled out her words.

"What?" the king asked, his voice, suddenly sober.

Izo looked over at him, trying to maintain a look of reverence when he explained. "Father signed this, but he signed it in both his blood and Yukina's blood. His blood was tainted by hers. He's not bound by it. Nor is Hikari. Yet, you and the prince are."


	83. Chapter 83

Nanashi did not think, just flew. She circled around the castle in flight, coming through the closest unlocked window to the nursery, Izo's room. He liked to sleep in the cold. She made her way through his room, high tailing it to the nursery with a half formed plan in her mind. Get Kaze, get the twins, and get out.

She went for Kaze first. Asa was there with him. She witnessed her lay a now tired Kaze into his crib. She walked in a huff, stating, "give him to me."

Her noise made him cry after being spooked, feeling a twinge of guilt for doing so. She side lined Asa, reaching to pick Kaze up.

Asa stopped her, pulling her away gently yet firmly. "Sweetness, what's wrong?" she asked in a soothing tone. Nanashi felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her.

Nanashi turned around, wrapping her arms around Asa. She managed to explain everything to her. "Hiei... he signed a blood treaty... when we were married... before we were... married... the same day... he agreed... he agreed to wed Hikari... Hikari to the prince... Prince Takashi..." She felt light headed in the midst of her explaining. It was a hard thing to explain as Kaze continued to cry.

Asa pushed her back, but kept her hands firmly on her shoulders. "What?" Asa frowned, studying her carefully. Her hand reached up, pushing hair out of Nanashi's face. "Sweetness, are you feeling okay? Your eyes..."

Nanashi shook her head, pulling away from Asa. Asa held stubbornly to her shoulder, not letting her go. "How could I be?" she asked. "After- after... Hiei..." she felt so dizzy. She shook her head. She needed to get Kaze and the twins and get out. "He sold her... before she was even born..." Her legs gave out. She swooned.

"Sweetness!" Asa gasped, holding her up as she passed out.

Nanashi blinked, shocked at her sudden realization she was in a limbo like state. She looked all around, seeing nothing but the rainbowy, cloudy nothingness around. It had been years since she had been here. She felt her temper flare. "No!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "No! Set me free!" she kept shouting. She looked around, trying to find where the Great Hawk Spirit was hiding. "I need to save my daughter!"

She paced around, furious. There was nothing and no one around her. She reached for the wind dragon fruitlessly. She was unconscious. She could not reach it. She huffed, laying down on the ground. Last time she was trapped here, the Great Hawk Spirit advised her to fall asleep in limbo, and awake in the mortal world. She closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep. She felt no sense of the grogginess. Stubbornly, she stayed on the ground, determining that if she stayed still long enough, her body would fall asleep.

"You're pathetic, get up," she heard a sharp voice cut through the air above her.

Nanashi was up and alert in a rush. She reached for the wind dragon, unable to summon it. She reached for the knife at her hip, grunting at its absence. She froze at the sight of the person before her. "Mukuro!" She rose up, ready to go her guard should Mukuro try anything. "You- you're- you were dead..."

"Such a mortal," Lord Mukuro tisked. "I might be here, I might not be here. I might be a figment of your imagination, or I might have called out of my own blissful afterlife just to see your smug face." Lord Mukuro shrugged. "How I'm here doesn't matter."

"Why? Why are you here?" Nanashi asked. "Then?" She shook her head, not being able to make sense of what was going on.

"I hate playing messenger," Lord Mukuro griped. She rolled her eyes. "What was the promise you made me before I died?" she asked in a blaise voice.

Nanashi shook her head. "No," she countered, refusing.

"Just say what it was," Lord Mukuro pressed. "We both know it, but you need to admit it aloud to yourself right now."

Nanashi shook her head once more. "No! I won't! He went too far with this!"

"This amount of raging passion is quite out of character for you," Lord Mukuro observed. "Is that how you seduced him? Just say it."

Nanashi frowned. "If I do, will I be freed?" Mukuro shrugged, a gleeful smirk on her face. Nanashi felt the urge to slap it off of her. Standing here quipping with someone who was dead, possibly if she was just imaginary, was going nowhere. "I promised to never rescind my love from him," she said. She felt a bad taste in her mouth. "But what he's done-" she gasped, cutting herself off.

Lord Mukuro no longer stood before her. The Great Hawk Spirit stood in her place.

Nanashi gasped, blinking at the sight of him. "Wake me up, please," she insisted. The Great Hawk Spirit shook her head. "Why not?" she sighed, exacerbated.

"I have urgent messages for you to pass on in the mortal world," the Great Hawk Spirit informed her.

Nanashi brought her hands over her face, trying to keep her temper under control. She was trapped in the Great Hawk Spirit's realm, so she would have to play by her rules. "What?" she asked, bringing her hands off of her face. She stood there, waiting impatiently to hear the messages.

"The future is an ever fluctuating thing, so seeing how it will ravel and unravel is difficult to pin down," the Great Hawk Spirit began. "What I say will be important for the most likely futures. First, you must keep your promise to Mukuro, whether you wish to or not. You must forgive him and stand strong, united in your life partnership with him. A conflict is coming in which both you and your husband must be there if your side wishes to prevail, and in some cases, even survive. Second, you must confess to him about putting Jin's name down next to his. Third, your daughter must be selfless. She must wed Prince Takashi as soon as possible."

"No," Nanashi protested.

The Great Hawk Spirit kept speaking. "Last, you must enlist the king's help and immediately go after the wolf pack. Get rid of them all, including their leader. Be ruthless. Take him out no matter the cost." The Great Hawk Spirit paused for effect. "Will you swear to convey my messages?"

Nanashi shook her head. "One of them," she ruled. "Maybe two... Not all three."

The Great Hawk Spirit seemed to freeze in time, eyes turning cold and harsh.

'Give her back to me!' Nanashi gasped, hearing Hiei's voice echoing all around them. 'Please... Nishi... please... I'm so sorry...'

"Hiei!" she shouted, looking all over for him. "I'm here! Where are you!?" She felt herself growing beyond frustrated, and a little shocked as Hiei's voice kept speaking. Kept saying words he would rarely even share in private.

'She's mine, you bird bitch... give her back, you can't have her!... She's not of your realm... I'm so sorry, Nishi, please... come back...'

"Stop it," she pleaded, hands covering her ears. She could still hear him. She suddenly wished she was deaf.

'I shouldn't have signed the treaty... please, come back please... I should have just taken off with you... please... I did everything I could to reverse the treaty... I- we couldn't find a dark crone to reverse it... Please free her... We need her back... Forgive me, come back to me... I tried not to- I tried to wait, or only have sons... Come back to me... Izo found a loophole...'

"Let me go!" she shouted at the Great Hawk Spirit. "You can't keep me imprisoned here indefinitely. No if you want your precious messages delivered."

The Great Hawk Spirit bristled. "Swear to me you relay my messages and you can awaken back in the mortal world."

"Only one," she countered. "Only to go after the wolf pack with the king."

"Your husband regretted signing that treaty everyday of his life there after. He did everything in his power to reverse its consequences. Fates beyond me did everything it could to evade the consequences. He's down everything he could to right this wrong."

Nanashi looked down at the ground. "I will," she whispered, giving in.

'Nishi, wake up...'

Nanashi gasped, awakening with a start. She sat up, struggling to do so as hands held her back. She pushed away at whatever was touching her. She blinked, trying to summon away the disorientation that wove over her. She gasped, looking around the bright lights of her and Hiei's bedroom.

Nanashi felt someone pull her back. Hiei had her in his arms, pulling her back over to him, holding her head tightly to his chest. "Nishi," he breathed. "You woke up..."

Nanashi pulled away from him, looking down at the bed between them. "How long...?" she asked.

"Three hours, almost four," he answered. She looked up at him. He was paler, a fearful look in his eyes.

"We're getting her out of this," she growled at him. "If she doesn't get a choice..." she let the threat hang.

"She does," he rushed out. He explained what Izo had figured out. The blood bond treaty only bound the king to it, but not Hiei since he signed in Yukina's foreign blood. "The prince can be with her or no one, but she still gets a choice. We tested it. Izo said he would kill the prince before he let her marry him. No reaction for the three of us. When the prince said the opposite of that about Hikari on the other hand, he and the king had a reaction," he explained. "The king, queen, and prince are furious at this unforeseen loop hole. They are talking about leaving immediately to seek out a dark crone abroad. Kurama and Yasha hadn't looked abroad-"

"They're leaving!" Nanashi rushed. She rose off of the bed. "They can't leave now, we need them." She stumbled her away towards the door on a one foot that was still asleep.

Hiei came up behind her, cutting in front of her. "Why? What did the Great Hawk Spirit tell you? What was so important she had to render you unconscious for hours?" he seethed.

"She gave me messages to convey. I promised to relay them in return for being awoken," she said dismally.

"What were the messages?" he pressed.

She opened her mouth, and then closed it humming. "We need to go after the wolf pack immediately with the king's help... Kill them all. Be ruthless," the winced at the harshness of her words.

"You said messages," he picked up on that. "What else did she say?"

She closed her eyes, grimacing. She bent down, kissing him. "To forgive you," she answered. She pulled away, evading his eyes.


	84. Chapter 84

Mother just fled... jumped out the window and fled. She had tried to take Hikari with her, but Hikari froze up, wishing the moment Mother was gone she had taken her hand.

"The angel!" Prince Takashi exclaimed, rush passed Hikari towards the window. "I don't see her." He turned around, looking concerned. He really cared about Mother. She had been one of his heroes growing up.

Hikari shook her head, looking over at her... betrothed... She could hardly stand him. He was vain, he was arrogant, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Yet watching him worry about Mother showed something different about him. Something caring. Something that could be caring. Something that...

"Father," Izo gasped behind her. Hikari turned to look at him.

He stood there by the table, holding the paper that bound her to the prince in engagement. Her stomach flipped at the thought of it. No choice in it... Not much of one anyway. Him or no one. Not the worst choice in the world, and yet... It was not fair.

Izo kept talking over her thoughts. "When did Ah- When did Yukina give you some of her blood? After you were attacked by that guy... that bomber... Karusu. You defeated him, but needed blood, so Yukina gave it to you. When?" He went over to Father, paper half crumpled in his hand. He showed the paper to Father, pointing at the date on it. "Before or after this date?"

Father looked so dazed, almost mournful. He would not look at Hikari even as she stared at him. She spoke for him, "it was before they married. He came back like two days later and they had their secret wedding. I'm sure that that's how Mother told us the story. Before." She felt self conscious with all eyes but Father's suddenly on her. She felt the sudden temptation to yell at him to look at her.

"What?" King Hayate asked.

Izo kept explaining. "Father signed this, but he signed it in both his blood and Yukina's blood. His blood was tainted by hers. He's not bound by it. Nor is Hikari. Yet, you and the prince are," he reasoned.

"That cannot be right," Queen Minha interjected. "Blood bonds blood. Both of their blood is on the paper, making in binding."

Izo sighed, frowning in thought. "Maybe," he preempted. "But I will kill the prince before he can wed her," he dead panned.

"Shut up," Father growled at him in panic. His hand rested on his chest for a beat. Then he looked confused.

Izo blinked, looking around the room pensively. He was counting silently to himself, mouthing numbers. "How long should the reaction take based on my refusal? For the three of us?" He asked the room.

"What reaction?" Hikari asked, confused.

Izo turned to her. "The two of us share blood with Father, so we are bound to any blood bond treaty he signs. My refusal should have triggered us, as well as Father." He turned to the king. "King Hayate, you should test your bond, your grace. Refuse to wed Hikari to Prince Takashi. Just so we can see what happens."

The king growled under his breath, mumbling something Hikari could not quite pick up.

"Doesn't matter. I won't marry the demon spawn, ugh," Prince Takashi said in a rush. He hissed through his teeth, but stubbornly kept his hands down at his side. His face was bit red.

"We're bound," King Hayate admitted, hand on his chest.

The prince let loose a series of moans and curses unfitting to his rank. Hikari watched him, shocked. He rounded on his Mother. "You cannot allow this!" he pleaded to her. "She's demon. She's wicked, wild. She's not a fit consort to a future king."

"You're not fit to be a king, anyway," Hikari clapped back at him.

Prince Takashi glowered at her, but said nothing. He turned back to his mother. "You told me once that Uncle Yasha and Kurama were looking for a dark crone. That they were unable to find one in Hayato, but they didn't look abroad." He went over to his mother, sitting down beside her, bemoaning his fate. "We need to find one. There are other countries in the world. There must be one somewhere in the world. Please, Mother," he pleaded. It looked like the tears in his eyes were genuine.

"We'll look," Queen Minha promised him in a soothing tone. She turned to Father, cutting him a cold look. "You knew, didn't you," she accused.

Father shook his head. Izo answered for him. "He couldn't have. Otherwise, why would he have bothered to try to find a dark crone?"

The queen herself looked crossed, but composed. "Lady Hikari," she said. "Do you mind if we meet privately as a family?" She gave her a sincere look.

"Certainly, my queen," Hikari agreed, feeling the desire to seek out Mother.

Hikari watched as the guard at the door rolled her eyes, and stepped away from the door. Father was the first one out of the door.

Hikari was not far behind him, at least at first. He sped away at his own speed. Hikari paused in the hallway, trying to sense for Mother. She heard Izo behind her, but paid him no mind. She wanted her, right now. She needed her. She sensed her in Kaze's nursery, jogging there herself.

She ran there, feeling ready to shut down herself. Before she even got to the nursery, however, she could hear Father shouting. She rushed into the room, halting in her stride at what she witnessed. Mother was not moving in Father's arms. He was yelling at her, begging her to wake up. Asa stood near by, looking gravely concerned. She held a crying, cranky Kaze in her arms. He was fighting against her, wanting Mother most likely. Hikari felt panic creeping up in her. Just when she needed Mother the most, she was dead...

Izo appeared next to her, like a ghost from nowhere. "She's not dead," he told her loud enough, certain enough. Hikari looked up at him, breathing becoming ragged. "She's still breathing. She's in a trance," he explained calming, but his own face looked ashen.

"Why... why is that a problem, but not a problem?" she asked, feeling herself ready to choke up.

"If it's the Great Hawk Spirit calling her into her realm, we don't know when she'll wake up," Izo explained. "Or... if she'll wake up."

Father growled, ripping off his head band. "Give her back, you bird bitch," he demanded. "Give her back!" Kaze was crying louder now. It was such an awful, shrill sound. "Calm him down!" Father griped at Asa in his frustration.

Hikari sighed, moving quickly into the room. She stepped over to Asa, hands held up to take Kaze from her pseudo-grandmother. Kaze practically leapt into her arms. She held him close, feeling her own set of tears starting to fall. She shushed him soothingly, the way she had seen Mother do before. Numbly, she sat down on the chair next to his crib. She watched Father continue to demand Mother awaken or the Great Hawk Spirit release her. His Jagan Eye glowing a violent, bright purple. It pulsed with such unrestrained energy that it made the hairs on the back of Hikari's neck stand up. Kaze in her arms was already quieting down, but shook. He was like Mother, sensitive to the feeling of demon energy.

It was growing too difficult to watch. If it was not for Kaze in her arms, she would have left the room. Father screamed wordlessly, shaking. His hands were on either side of Mother's head. Then he just stopped. His eyes closed and his body collapsed to the floor next to Mother's.

Asa was quick to kneel down, checking on the two of them. "Just unconscious," she ruled with a sigh. "What has happened?" she asked, desiring to understand what went down in the past hour. Izo was quick to explain in a clear cut manner. "How could he do that?" she murmured. She looked down at Father, running a gentle hand through his spiky hair. "I don't believe he'd do that."

"He did it, the blood bond treaty," Izo countered. "I do think he regretted it."

Hikari rose up from the chair. Kaze was calmer now. He was exhausted from all the crying he did in his confusion. Yet when she went to lay him down in his crib, he clung to her anew. She groaned under her breath, annoyed with him. Her world just got turned upside down and all she wanted was her mother. She pulled Kaze back up, letting him stay in her arms.

"We should at least take them to their bedroom," Hikari commented. "I bet Father will wake up first, if Izo is right and Mother is trapped in a trance caused by the Great Hawk Spirit." Hikari, stepped over to them, feeling a strong desire to kick Father where he lay. "Can you...?" she asked Asa and Izo, nodding down at her parents.

Izo stepped over to the two of them, a tight look on his face. He bent down, picking up Father, surprisingly, throwing him over his shoulder. Asa did the same the with Mother. She watched the two of them wordless walk out of their unconscious parent in turn.

When they left the room, Hikari sighed, still clutching Kaze to her. She plopped herself back on the chair, unsure what she should do next.

It was hours before both of her parents were awake.


	85. Chapter 85

Nanashi felt awkward going out on a patrol with King Hayate, Prince Takashi, Hiei, Hikari, and their guard Aiko to look for the wolf pack, last spotted on the Eastern road leading to the village by the castle. Queen Minha and Izo stayed behind in the castle with Asa in case anything happened. Nanashi felt uncomfortable with the patrol starting within the hour the Great Hawk Spirit had allowed to her to reawaken, but she was glad to finally go after the wolf pack. Once the king heard it was an order from the Great Hawk Spirit, he was quick to take the command to heart. Hiei did not want to act until he could catch one and read their mind and interrogate them. Nanashi did not see the point, especially since now the Great Hawk Spirit told them to get rid of the whole lot of them immediately.

Hiei was in the lead of them, taking point. He was tracking, surprisingly focused. 'This way,' he said in each of their minds. He took off at a slow pace for himself, but brisk for everyone else, especially the prince. 'They're at the abandoned farmhouse one hundred yards away. Six of them. Keep one alive for questioning.'

Hiei lead the charge ahead, moving swiftly. Nanashi followed behind, struggling to keep pace with him, the wind dragon giving her a speed boost. She could hear King Hayate huffing not to far behind her. She half thought she heard Prince Takashi break the silence rule and swear far behind her.

When Nanashi broke into the clearing around the abandoned farmhouse, she saw Hiei had paused, Jagan Eye bright violet on his forehead. He was scowling slightly. 'They're hiding something...' he thought. 'They know we're here though. They are getting ready to come out.' As soon as she heard the word 'out' in her mind, six wolf demons came out the front door and across the dilapidated porch of the farmhouse, a mixed array of old looking swords in hand. King Hayate had caught up now. Hikari and Aiko not long after him. Prince Takashi must still be behind them.

'One each,' Nanashi thought to her wind dragon.

Hiei charged forward, sword out. Nanashi conjured up her ax via her wind dragon. She heard Aiko draw her own blade while King Hayate summoned up his own bow and arrow and Hikari her own slim sword made of her fire dragon. Hiei reached the first one, Nanashi the second one.

Nanashi hardly had the time to pay attention to anything else going on around her once she engaged in battle with her wolf demon. The beast was quite big, almost rivaling the king in stature. The breath coming out of his furry snout mouth was atrocious. It was all she could do not to gag. The sword in its hand had smears of rust along the inside. She met and parried it blow for blow. She finally managed to back against a tree and duck at the last minute, making her wolf demon opponent sink its sword in the trunk behind her. She side stepped after ducking, pivoting on the balls of her feet. Without hesitation, she launched herself at the wolf demon, hacking its head off.

She panted, drawing deep breaths. She looked around, seeing the other fighting still. Hiei held fast to his wounded opponent, pinning it to a tree. Even at the distance between them, she could tell his third eye was pulsing in effort to read its mind. She saw King Hayate, Hikari, and Aiko about ready to win their own matches as well. One person was struggling though. Prince Takashi was trying to have a bow and arrow versus sword fight. He did not look successful.

Nanashi ran towards him, ax ready to take out the prince's opponent. Half way there, Prince Takashi managed a lucky shot at close range. He shot the wolf demon through the eye and out the back of its skull. Then he turned with lightening speed, aimed, and fired right at her.

It all happened so fast, yet also in slow motion. She saw Prince Takashi's arrow flying towards her chest. Before she could even lift a foot to go in another direction, she felt something hard and short slam into her right side. She then felt the arrow rip through her, not her chest, but her right shoulder. She cried out, pain shooting up her shoulder. The next sensation that followed was crashing to the ground, left shoulder first, head second. The rest of her and whatever hit her landed not long after. She blinked, smarting at these new injuries. Stars and black spots danced across her vision. She groaned on the ground, trying to sit up, but still pinned down by what hit her.

"Nishi," she heard right next to her ear. Hiei. "Are you alright?" he asked, voice dripping with concern.

"You shot the angel!?" King Hayate's voice rolled over top of Hiei's.

She groaned, waving him away, trying to sit up. Neither hand agreed to cooperate once placed on the ground as pain shot through both shoulders when she tried to rise up. She rolled her upper body over instead, blinking painfully as light streamed into her eyes. Her right shoulder felt wet. Her left shoulder and the left side of her head pounded painfully. "Healer," she choked out. She did not want to move anymore.

"Stay with her," Hiei ordered. Nanashi was not sure who he said that to.

"You idiot boy!" King Hayate's voice rang out, making Nanashi's head ring even worse.

"Father's on it," Hikari said gently next to her. Nanashi blinked up at her, seeing three daughters swirling around her. "Your shoulder is bleeding pretty badly. Try to stay still." Nanashi felt a tight, pulling sensation around her right shoulder.

Prince Takashi cried out. "I didn't see her! And she was running at me." He cried out once more.

"What happened?" Nanashi asked, slurring.

"You didn't see her! Hard to miss since she looks nothing like a wolf demon!" The king was still raging.

Hikari explained, "Prince Takashi shot you. By accident in sound like. She paused, scowling in the direction of the king's voice. "Father knocked you out of the way. He's gone back to the castle, after a healer. Probably Izo. He's the swiftest."

"You could of killed her!" the king sounded even louder. "You would have killed her had Hiei not shoved her out of the way!"

Nanashi closed her eyes, trying to block out the sound that way somehow. She could hear the sounds of the prince whimpering. "Stop, your grace, or you'll kill him," Aiko insisted just as loudly.

Nanashi opened her eyes once more, looking over at where the voices were coming from. She saw a blurry image of Prince Takashi on the ground, Aiko being shoved away, and King Hayate looking murderous. She blinked, seeing the scene more clearly.

Nanashi tried to roll and get up, but the pain halted her. "Stop him," she panicked over at Hikari.

"He shot you," Hikari retorted darkly. "Why should I?"

"Hikari," she seethed.

Hikari clicked her teeth. "Fine," she grumbled. She rose up, walking into the scene in Nanashi's line of sight. "Back off," she told the king rudely. She had stood herself between the hulking king and the prince on the ground.

"This does not concern you," King Hayate told her.

Hikari stared him down ruefully. "Get up, dumbass," Hikari said, tugging on Prince Takashi's arm, pulling him up to his feet. He looked shaken up, hair tousled, and face pale. She held him firmly by the sleeve of his shirt, yanking him behind her. "Get you the fuck out of here before either of our fathers kills your ass," she grumbled. She pulled him into the woods after her.

Nanashi sighed, frustrated at the scene she saw. King Hayate looked red faced and furious. Aiko stepped back from him, looking over at Nanashi. King Hayate rounded on the nearest tree, hitting it until it was reduced to kindling. He shouted in a wordless rage.

Nanashi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Izo and Hiei make their way through the woods. Izo was quick to kneel down beside her. "Where are you injured?" he asked.

"She's bleeding. Can you not see that," Hiei griped at him.

Izo said took a steadying breath. "Where are you injured, Mother?"

"Shoulders," she answered. "And the side of my head," she added.

"Which side?" he asked.

"Left," she answered.

Izo moved his hands over to her head, healing there first. As he did so, he explained, "a concussion is a more perilous injury." He sounded a lot like Asa the way he said it. "Here, drink this," he told her, pulling a vial from his pocket. Even now, the sight of a vial full of something made her twinge. "It's herbal medicine in case of a infection from your injury."

Nanashi opened her mouth, allowing him to pour the vial into her mouth. As she was drinking it, she was trying not to gag on it. Izo took the vial away, stowing it back in his pocket. Nanashi felt better when he was finished with her. He moved to her right shoulder next.

"Where's the prince?" Hiei asked, looking annoyed himself.

"Leave him be," Nanashi said softly. Hiei turned to look at her, annoyed.

"He shot you," he hissed.

"He didn't mean to," she excused, half unsure how to explain it. She sat up, watching Izo unwrap the make shift bandage from her right shoulder. It was soaked with blood, but the wound underneath was completely healed at least. "He made a mistake, a stupid mistake, but he didn't intend for that to happen."

"Stupid idiot needs better training," Hiei grumbled, loud enough for King Hayate to hear. "Bringing a bow to a sword fight. Not being aware of his surroundings... He must have never been in a real fight because he's still alive."

Nanashi hummed only to show her agreement with his statements. "Go easy on him when he comes around."

"Why?" he hissed out.

She gave him a sharp gaze, warning him against the idea. She stood up, sighing. It was such a complicated problem. Prince Takashi made a mistake, but could have almost killed her. He would have to face some sort of consequences. He was also still bound by the one sided blood treaty to marry Hikari or no one. Nanashi felt a wave of pity roll over for him and the day he was certainly having.

Now injury free, she rolled over onto her hands and knees. She then rolled up to stand on her feet. She sighed. "He's under my protection now," she stated loud enough for the other four in the area to hear her. "So long as he is in Alaric anyway."

King Hayate looked none too pleased with her now. He stomped towards her. "You want to test that?" he asked her, standing much too close to her.

She refused to step back. "Like Izo tested the blood bond treaty?"

King Hayate growled at her. He stepped away, stalking off into the woods in the same direction Hikari and Prince Takashi had gone.


	86. Chapter 86

Takashi felt sick to his stomach. He shot the angel... he shot the angel... he nearly died in his fight with one of the wolf demon bandits, only to nearly kill the angel instead.

He stumbled, following moodily behind Hikari. He reviewed it in his mind. The others were running after the wolf demon bandits far too fast. He had not been able to keep up with them. He reached the yard around the abandoned farmhouse, seeing a strangler wolf demon bandit coming at him. He fought with him, but the wolf demon kept getting too close for him to be shot with a bow and arrow. He finally managed to get at a distance from it long enough to shoot him.

Then he heard the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing rushing towards him. He was trained for situations like this. Shoot faster than an enemy can reach you. He hardly thought, hardly aimed, just drew, knocked, and loosed before his conscious could catch up to what his muscle memory was doing.

The angel was there. The angel ran towards him. He shot before he realized it was her. He shouted in terror, watching the arrow race towards her. Out of nowhere, his cousin, Hiei rushed towards the angel, tackling her to the ground. His quick thinking knocked her off course just enough for the arrow to miss her chest and go through her shoulder instead.

She hit the ground hard, but was alive. He felt so ashamed and so relieved. Father was quick to round on him though, yelling at him belittlingly. He even struck him in his fury a time or two. He then knocked him to the ground, hands over his head to protect himself. Aiko tried to jump between them, but was shoved off. The annoying little part demoness, Hikari, jumped between them, yanking him up and away from his father. She pulled him by the sleeve from the area, muttering her own string of curses at him. She was moving quickly, almost too quickly for him.

"Will you slow down!" he shouted at her, tugging his arm sharply to get his sleeve out of her grip.

She rounded on him with surprisingly quickness. She had a hot, red, semi-transparent sword pressed to his neck before he could even draw his next breath. "I would do it," she warned him. "And happily." She pulled the sword back. "Mother wouldn't like that. Maybe she wants it all for herself." She shook her hand, the sword transforming into a short and slim fire dragon that rolled up her arm. She gripped him by the hand, tugging him to follow her once more. "Stupid... vain... boy..."

He followed along behind her, letting her lead him all the way up to and into the castle. As they walked, he wallowed in his emotions. This tiny demoness was the only wife he could ever have, thanks to his foolish father. Her or no one. He hated her, the very idea of her. He thought about some of the other girls at court. He would have preferred the ugly one that were pure elvish any day.

"Hurry up, mope captain," she ordered, leading him into the library of all places.

Mother was there, standing with the elder head librarian, Manabu, and his assistant, Aeka. Manabu was so old that he had trouble seeing, but was still dedicated to his job. Mother insisted he get to stay working until he was ready to retire. Aeka was hired on to be his eyes for him. The three of them were at the angel's desk, looking over a few maps of the world.

"Here would be the best place to start, your grace," Aeka pointed on the map. "But getting there might be rather time consuming."

"The engagement doesn't have a time constraint, so there's a plus," Mother commented. She looked up at them, seeing Takashi and Hikari stand before her. "What's happened?" she asked them loudly.

At sight of Mother, he felt his face redden and flush. He blinked, not wanting to cry in front of the stupid demoness beside him. Mother was quick to get to him, taking him from Hikari and sitting him down at the nearest couch. She sat beside him, pulling him close to her. He let himself cry freely, in spite of his own embarrassment to do so in front of Hikari and the two librarians.

Hikari dismissed the two librarians and came over next to them to stand. She sighed judgmentally and launched into an explanation of what happened. By the time she finished, Takashi was resting his elbows on his knees, head hung low. He swallowed, all the shame burning through him.

"I didn't..." he shook his head, clearing his throat. "I didn't mean to harm her..." he confessed.

"I know, precious," Mother said soothingly. Her hand brushed gently at his face, brushing back the tangle bangs out of his face. She sighed. "Your father... hmm... he should have held off his temper like that." Mother looked up at Hikari. "My lady, can you put him under your protection? It will hold the king's temper at bay. By custom no one can harm him intentionally unless they wish to pick a fight with you."

Hikari grimaced. "No," she answered. "Your grace," she added. "He shot my mother."

Mother rose up, leaving him to sit alone in his misery. She went over to Hikari. "It wasn't his intent, but it was his mistake. I'll decide with the king what his punishment should be. You're mother would be merciful, well, a bit too merciful," she pointed out. "Surely you can show him a little bit of that yourself, hmm?"

Hikari crossed her arms over her chest, a deep scowl etched in her face. "Fine. Vain boy's under my protection while he's here in Alaric," she sassed out.

"Mind your tone when speaking to your queen," Takashi snapped at her.

"Mind your tone when you speak to me," Hikari clapped back at him. The dark look she threw him was extra harsh as it resonated from her crimson eyes.

He promised himself in that moment he would never wed the likes of her.


	87. Chapter 87

Never in the history of Hayato, nay, the world, could someone have had worse luck than he did. Or so did Takashi feel. After Father, the angel, his cousin, Aiko, and Izo returned from the woods, both set of parents holed themselves up in the library for over an hour, discussing what should be done with him. He was stuck waiting with the demon twins in the hallway. They stood patiently while he paced in nervous energy back and forth, up and down the hallway.

"Will you quit pacing and grumbling," Hikari snapped at him. "It's not helping any."

Takashi kept walking. "Maybe not you," he grumbled at her. He looked at her and then away, cringing. That might be his wife one day, but the very idea. Flat faced, too young, childish. Then putting him under her protection out of pity. He did not need her pity, sentiment, or any protection from her.

"You-" she started. Her brother cleared her throat. She hummed, not finishing whatever she wanted to say.

Lucky for the lot of them, the two sets of parents emerged from the library, where Takashi had been hoping for some set of good news in the aftermath of this awful day. What he got was not good, not good at all. His parents were going to go aboard immediately to seek out a dark crone that could break the blood bond treaty between both fathers. They would go as a guise of being an international trip to allies and exploration in the like. Takashi, as part of his punishment for accidentally shooting the angel, was that he was stay in Alaric until his parents returned in country. He was to stay and train with Hiei. That would be the guise of it anyway, without the punishment part being shared publicly.

He was unsure which part he hated worse. Being exiled as punishment or the fact that he had no clue how long it would last. Once his parents left, he swore to himself he would not leave his room until they returned.

Unfortunately, Hiei was not about to let that happen the very next morning. Hiei was quick to come into the bedroom a quarter the size of the one in the king's castle, and drag him out in only his pajamas. It was infuriating to experiences. Hours and hours of mainly being chased around the woods, being unable to fend Hiei off with a bow and arrow. Then, when Takashi's energy ran down, only his hands and feet to try to fight against an expert swordsman with a vengeful attitude. A sword to the neck and being told 'dead' so many times in one day was infuriating.

Takashi got fed up with it. Yelling and insults helped him none. He made a break for it to get to the castle. This was done, and he would end it on his own terms. Yet Hiei kept up his pursuit. He was in sight of the castle, but Hiei had him now. He turned and leaned against a nearby tree, feigning giving up.

That was when he felt a sharp grip enclose on his right wrist. He gasped in pain. "I'm 'dead' again. Let go," his hissed down at the demonic cousin before him.

"You're wrong," Hiei replied, "I haven't 'killed' you yet. You're alive. Fight."

Takashi fell to his knees, wishing he would just let him go and end the day's misery.

"Give up and you deserve to die a real death," Hiei spoke down to him. "Haven't you another pathetic trick up your sleeve. A feint, more empty threats, arrows, attempts to hide, something else useless."

Hiei twisted his grip, tightening it as he did so. Takashi loosed a whimper involuntarily. He just wanted to be free.

Hiei was still staring down at him with red eyes blazing. "You're giving up that easily? Are you sure you're the son of the king?"

A twist in pain as Hiei adjusted his grip and squeezed harder on Takashi's wrist. He felt as if it was about to break. Takashi yanked as hard as he could in desperation to free himself from Hiei's grip. All for nothing. Hiei did not even move.

"Enough!" the angel's voice called out.

Hiei's grip loosened only slightly, but Takashi was still firm in his grasp. Both of them looked up over at the angel. She was standing there with their infant son secured to her front, and a basket that must have held food in her hand. Takashi heard his stomach growl loudly just at the thought of food.

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't interfere," Hiei commented.

"So long as you don't kill or maim him, yes," the angel answered. "But you can't starve him." Takashi noted she looked exhausted, near dead on her feet.

The tension between the two of them was so frigid, Takashi felt a shiver go down his spine. The angel had told them all the prophecies the Great Hawk Spirit had given her. That they must get rid of the wolf demon pack that was running a muck in Alaric. That she must forgive Hiei for signing the blood bond treaty. While they had fulfilled the first one, Takashi had sense of foreboding that told him that the forgiveness was not quite all dulled out yet, even if she said it was.

Hiei shook his hand, releasing Takashi's wrist. Takashi brought his wrist to his chest, rubbing it with his uninjured hand. "I thought I had your protection," he complained to the angel.

"Training you doesn't fall under her protection," Hiei informed him, sheathing his sword. "Your father made that clear." Hiei stepped away from him walking towards the angel. She stiffened as he approached, staring straight ahead. His brushed against her free hand. "Take the bed tonight," he told her softly. She shook her head. Hiei left them alone, returning himself to the castle.

"Come," the angel called over to him. "Sit on the steps with me," she requested.

She herself walked over to the steps of the castle without another word. She sat down, basket beside her. She set out a blanket from the basket, an array of food, and a jug of tea. She had a plate set out, but stopped when Kaze fussed on her front. Gracefully she pulled the infant from her front, sitting him in her lap. He reached for a bit of food nearby, but she pulled him back when he reached for food he was far too young to munch on.

"You're not quite ready for that yet," she teased, pulling him over to her lap.

There was a bit of cut up apple on one of the plates. She allowed him to reach that plate and take a slice from it. She tipped him back into her lap to lean against her chest. He nibbled at the apple contentedly.

Takashi approached the pair of them, sitting down at the other side of the blanket from the angel. She looked up at him, nodding down at the food for him to eat.

He was quick to grab the plate she left out, pile food onto it, and scarf it down. He sighed, glad to be fed after such a long day. "Thank you," he sighed out.

Kaze reached for more to eat. Nanashi allowed him to reach for a roll on one of the plates. She took it from him for one second, making him whine. She tore a chunk of it off for him, passing it to him.

"When I was pregnant, with both him and the twins, all I wanted to eat was bread and apples," she said. She ran a gently hand through his tuffed up black hair.

Takashi looked back and forth between the angel and Kaze in between bites. "He looks like you," he finally said.

"He's my son," she said back. "Second... living son."

Kaze reached at her hand holding the remaining parts of the roll. She tore another chunk out of it for him. He snagged it up greedily, mowing down on it.

The angel kept speaking. "He was never expected or planned or anything like that. Glad he came about though." She looked hesitant, checking on Kaze for a moment. "He's not our third child... I miscarried around the time Hikari and Izo were toddlers. I tried to keep him, but after months of trying everything possible, I didn't." A hushed silence fell over them. "Asa thought I wouldn't be able to have another child after that one burned through me. I should have never been able to have Kaze... he was a miracle... but I can't imagine never having him, even if I shouldn't have... if that makes any sense." She swallowed thickly, a haunted look in her eyes.

Kaze reached over for more bread. She passed another chunk too him.

Takashi studied the angel. She looked forlorn. "My mother was like that. When my sister died when I was young," he blurted out. He remembered it all, but barely. She had always been frail. "She got sick so suddenly, that not even my mother's blessing her to live worked." He clammed up, suddenly worried how much he had just revealed about Mother. No one was supposed to know Mother could bless or curse someone. Luckily the angel passed another piece of roll to Kaze at that moment. "I didn't really understand what was happening. I do recall touching her and seeing she wouldn't survive the illness that took her."

The angel shifted, handing the remaining chunk of roll down to Kaze. He ate from it happily, oblivious to the conversation going on around him. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "Um, what do yo mean by you touching her...?"

Mother's ability was to be kept secret, as it was not his to share. Yet his was fair game, Mother said that was his right. Only those he was certain he could trust. He could trust the angel. "When I touch someone, I can see a brief glimpse of their future. Only once though, as far as I know. Hard to put in context though."

Kaze leaned his head back against the angel's chest. "Does what you see cause a change in the future?"

"I don't think so. Mother told me not to use it unless necessary," he explained. "I could do it for you. See a glimpse of your future if you wanted me to. And tell you what it is, too."

The angel looked at him, a cautious and weary look in his eyes. "It won't change anything? The future?" she asked carefully.

"No. Mother said it was a watered down version of what Father can do. I'm a rare kind of elf with dual abilities, like my Father. A bit of wind, and a bit of a mental ability." He conjured up a mini whirlwind in his palm. It was strain to do even that though as he had depleted his energy earlier in the day with fighting Hiei. At least it was returning quickly. He'd likely need plenty more of it tomorrow. "But I can't seem to be able to conjure wings like you or do much more of anything else beyond bow and arrows..." He sat his plate down, having eaten his fill.

Kaze was leaning on her chest now, dozing. Carefully, she held her hand out to him. "Show me," she requested in a hushed whisper.

Takashi reached over to her, taking her hand in both of his, but stopped. "Are you sure?" he asked to clarify. Mother always told him to always ask more than once first, act second.

She nodded. He took her hand tentatively in his two hands. Her hand felt warm in his. He closed his eyes. In a flash, he saw an image of her, reclining on a bed. Her hair was gray, but so were her eyes. They were clouded over. She was reaching up to her wind dragon on her neck. It was not much, but it was something. He opened his eyes and let her hand go. "Do you want to know?" he asked her solemnly. She nodded. "You were...very old with gray hair... I think near blind... with cloudy eyes... you were reaching up to your wind dragon on your neck..."

"That's it?" she asked looking disappointed.

"I don't see much, my angel. "Only a glimpse is all."

"Thank you," she hummed.

Kaze shifted in his seat in the angel's lap. "He's quite tired, isn't he?" Takashi asked. He nodded down towards Kaze. "Wouldn't it be better if we go in?" he suggested. "You and him would be more comfortable." Up close, she looked like she could fall asleep at any moment.

The angel nodded, scooping up her son. He whined at her, as she tried to put him back her front. He kicked and fussed at that. She sighed at that. She kept him in her arms then as she started cleaning up what was left of the food.

"Have you eaten yet, my angel?" Takashi asked her.

"Oh, I ate earlier," she explained. "Before I found out you hadn't," she added shortly.

She kept trying to clean, but it was difficult with Kaze fussing in her arm. Takashi took over, cleaning up most of it for her. He did wonder why a servant was not out here to do it for her.

"You're still mad at him?" he asked vaguely.

She stood up, holding Kaze up on her hip. It meant he would have to carry the basket, making himself groan. There had to be a servant around somewhere. Maybe he could pass it off once they were in a castle to a servant to take it.

She pursed her lips. "I've forgiven him and he's still here. Just like the Great Hawk Spirit told me," she grumbled.

Takashi was unsure what that meant, but he did feel a sense of unease walking behind her into the castle.

Takashi thought over the last two days of his life, not liking how any of it was going.


	88. Chapter 88

"... and that's why I really don't want him here," Hikari must have repeated herself for the umteenth time. They were sitting on the couch in Nanashi and Hiei's quarters. Part of Nanashi would much rather be asleep on this couch in the moment.

Nanashi listened on, trying to be patient with her. What she was sharing was important to her. She stifled a yawn. "I know you don't like him here, but it's what the king, queen, your father, and I agreed to. His punishment for accidentally shooting me, a safe place for him to stay while his parents are abroad looking for a dark crone to break the blood bond treaty's hold, and ample time for your father to train him." She rubbed at her forehead, wishing her pulsing headache would go away.

"But this is my territory. I run it," Hikari grouched.

Nanashi sighed. "It is, but he's your prince and needs to be somewhere safe while his parents are away. Just in case someone tries something. You know that."

Hikari turned forward on the couch, slouching down and crossing her arms across her face. "Fine. He best behave himself. Good night, Mother."

Nanashi tried not to look too relieved. "Good night, Hikari," she said tiredly. She watched Hikari head towards the door, envying her and her ability to sleep without a worry tonight.

Hikari stopped at the door. "And if the queen thinks him staying here a few weeks will magically make the two of us fall in love in case they fail to find a dark crone, well, that's not going to happen." She then rushed out the door before Nanashi could say anything in response.

Nanashi sighed, turning to rest her side on the couch. She laid her head on the top of the couch, yet willing herself not to fall asleep at all.

Luckily or unluckily, Hiei came in the room from the bedroom now that Hikari had left. Seeing her almost made her wish Hikari had stayed on to complain more about Prince Takashi staying here.

"Take the bed," he told her patiently.

"No," she said, making herself sit up when she would rather leave her head laying.

"You're not sleeping on the couch," he stated.

"I said -" she started.

He interrupted, shaking his head. "I mean you're not literally sleeping on the couch. The couch mustn't be comfortable, otherwise you would be better rested," he observed. She hummed to herself, not sure how to explain it away. "Sleep on the bed, I can sleep on the couch," he offered.

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Why don't you want to sleep?" he asked her, leaning himself against the wall opposite of her. At least he was keeping his distance. She looked up at him, unsure how to explain it or what to say. "Why don't you want to sleep?"

She gave in, "I don't want to be pulled into the Great Hawk Spirit's realm again."

He gave her a quizzical look. "Why?" She shook her head again. "Why?" When she did not answer, he offered, "I can put a block in your mind to try to keep her at bay, but only if you tell me why."

The temptation for that enticed her. "I can't..." she petered out.

"Can't? Or won't?" he questions were pressing, but his tone was not. "How many messages did she give you to pass on?"

She felt ready to squirm at that question. "Two," she said, eyes trained on the floor. The silence around them was suffocating. "Three," she lied.

"What was the third one?" he pressed.

"I'll... I'll tell you if you promise to stay... and promise to put the block in my mind," she bargained.

He nodded and approached her. "What was the third one?" He sat down next to her waiting for him to speak.

She opened her mouth, debating which one to share that she had kept to herself. The one where Hikari should wed Prince Takashi immediately and selflessly or the one where she should tell him about Jin's name. She took a deep breath and then blurted out, "I put Jin's name down, not Yasha's." She did not explain any further.

He stared at her, not seeming to quite catch her meaning for a few seconds. Then his face lit up in shock. He stood up in a rush, making her suddenly nervous. "You told me you wrote my name and Yasha's name down for the king and queen of who would be willing to marry. I kept that secret to spare you Kurama's jealousy and Yasha's unpleasant teasing. The king kept that secret as well. To think how you reacted when you found out about the blood bond treaty..." He shook his head. He stepped over to her, reaching for either side of her head. She flinched. "I'm putting the block in your mind," he said tensely.

She closed her eyes, holding her breath. She felt him press his hands on either side of her head. She gasped at the feeling of whatever it was he was doing burrowing inside her mind. When he let go, she slumped down on the couch, hoping that would work. It had to work if she were to sleep.

He stepped away from her, making her feel small. "You'll take the bed now," he ruled. She felt an odd mix of relief and guilt settle in the pit of her stomach.


	89. Chapter 89

Hikari was unsure how much more she could stand of the vain boy prince staying in her territory, in her castle, and training with her father, and worse, training alongside her. It was frustrating to watch over the course of the next six weeks.

Hikari was outside at a distance from the castle in the forest, 'sparing' with Prince Takashi under Father's watchful eye. She loosely used the word sparing because she was genuinely trying to kick his teeth in. She had no doubt he was trying to do the exact same thing. Father watched them carefully, only intervening if one of them, well, if she, got too rough. She was stronger than he was. He was trained but only to a point of caution because he was the heir to the throne. While she was the lady of Alaric, her father did not worry so much about caution. He once warned her if she was not strong enough among the demons in the territory, they would walk all over her one day. She clearly won out, enjoying winning most of the time for a change, instead of Izo.

She felt so worn out and drained towards the end of the fighting, but determined not to let Prince Takashi get the best of her. She had him right where she wanted him. She knew, and so did he. She went in for the kill so to speak.

He was exhausted, just like she was. He threw his fist at her. She ducked under him, using her smaller stature against him. She kept low to the ground, and swung her leg around, tripping him up on his feet. He fell hard to the ground, huffing in frustration. She knew he might not stay down for long, so she was quick to jump on top of him to pin him down. She straddled his chest, ignoring the heat she felt at this, and pinned her forearm against his neck. He would not be able to wiggle his way out of this, just like last time.

He was swearing at her, but that's when she knew he was beaten. He was red faced and blustering. She slapped him across the face for good measure, and all the swearing he was doing.

"Hikari!" she heard from behind the two of them. She sat up straighter, taking her forearm off of Prince Takashi's neck. She saw Mother standing at a distance from Father. "Get off him," Mother ordered her.

Hikari shoved her way off of him, intentionally bringing a knee to his ribs. She stood up and stepped away from him. Mother always took his side in his exile here. 'He's safer here,' 'his parents trust you,' 'he needs more training,' etc. Six weeks on, it was getting ridiculous.

"Help him up, please," Mother demanded.

Hikari looked over at Father, who barely nodded at her. Ruefully, she reached down and yanked the vain boy up by his arm, even as he whined about even that. "I hate you," she said as quietly she could. Father would likely hear her words, but not Mother.

"Not as much as I hate you!" he yelled full on in her face.

That started the fight all over again. She ran at him, trying to tackle him. Her small stature was against her in this reactive attack. He took the chance to grab her by the waist, spin her, and throw her down on the ground. It knocked the wind out of her.

Mother intervened this time. She stepped between the two of them. Prince Takashi would not touch her. She was on his side, always.

He was whining all the while at Mother. "Didn't you hear what she said?" he whinged.

"I heard what you both said," Mother said calmly. "Go take a rest before dinner, my prince," she excused Prince Takashi.

"Yes, my angel," he grumbled out. He jogged away from them, towards the castle.

Hikari stood up, annoyed with Mother now. "We were fine," she grumbled out.

Mother gave her a disbelieving look. "You were on top of him, and slapped him."

"While he was swearing at me," she countered.

"You had won by that point, you should have let him up," Mother said calmly.

"Father stops us when we go too far," she countered.

Mother looked over at Father. "You should know by now how to stop yourself," Father added in.

"You always take the prince's side," she spat at Mother. "You always take Mother's side, even when you would disagree otherwise," she spat at Father. She fumed, annoyed by the all around betrayal. She stormed off towards the castle, even as she heard Father calling her back to apologize to Mother.

Hikari went straight for her room, locking the door behind her. Her belt with her knife sheathed at her hip knocked against the door, irritating her with its unexpected noise. She tore the belt off and threw it across the room. If she were not so exhausted, she would probably thrown a few more things. She laid sprawled out on the bed, annoyed by it all. She heard Father's voice echo in her mind, telling her not to come out unless she was ready to apologize to Mother, even if that meant no dinner. That had her raging tiredly, wanting to punch something, anything. She settled for hitting her bed.

She woke up with a jolt, unsure of when exactly she feel asleep. She awoke stiffly and irritably hungry. She looked out the window, seeing it was the beginnings of sunset. It always set so late at night this time of year this far North. The prince complained about it once or twice. She rose up, ready to go to Mother now to apologize. It would make things easier if she did as she knew from experience, even if she felt like what she said was true.

She went to Mother and Father's room, knocking on their door. She listened in, hearing Father shuffling to the door. "Where's Mother," Hikari asked, avoiding his eyes when he opened the door half way.

Father blinked sleepily. He looked towards their bedroom door. "She's asleep now," he answered.

Hikari's stomach growled loudly. "Can I wait until morning then?" she requested. She avoided looking at his eyes. She looked else where, seeing into the room behind Father. Her eyes lit on the couch in their rooms. There was a wrinkled blanket and a pillow laying on it. "Why are you sleeping on the couch?" she asked him. "How long have you been sleeping on the couch?"

Father moved to shut the door on her, saying, "don't worry about it. Go get some dinner and apologize in the morning."

She stopped the closing of the door with her foot. She felt a twinge in her foot from it, but ignored it. "It's all because of the prince, isn't it? Because he's here and that stupid treaty you signed-"

"Keep your voice down," he said in a tone that shut her up. "It's not something you need to worry about," he added dismissively.

She feigned defeat. "Yes, Father," she breathed out with pretend ease. "I'll be here first thing in the morning to apologize. She pulled her foot back. He shut the door without another word.

He bought it. She tried to keep her mind clear. She walked, not letting herself run, through the castle to the vain boy prince's room. She pounded on the door, waiting for him impatiently to answer the door for her. He shuffled to the door, opening it, shirtless. She forgot for a moment why she was there. Then her senses came back to her.

"Get out," she said quiet.

"What?" he asked her, rubbing at one of his eyes.

"This is my castle. You are no longer welcome here," she told him.

"That's not what your mother, the angel said," he countered.

"She doesn't like being called that and she doesn't want you here anymore," she half lied.

He narrowed his face at her. "You're lying," he called her out. "The angel wouldn't say that."

"Well, I want you out. I don't want to be here with you anymore. You've caused enough trouble as it is," she accused.

He went to shut the door on her. She stopped him with her foot in the door. He hit it more than once, but gave up in a huff. "I'm not leaving until my parents come back with a dark crone to free me of my engagement to you."

"No one else would have you. That's probably why your father made a deal with my father," she countered.

"I'd rather be without a wife than marry the flat faced, ugly likes of you," he told her.

She stared at him in disbelief at his harness. She slapped him across the face and then ran for it.

She ran down the stairs, through the front hallway, and out the front door in her rage. She ran through the forest towards the setting sun. She was not sure how long she had been running until she stumbled over a tree root and fell. She fell and stayed down, annoyed by it all. She was exhausted, hungry, angry, and just in general upset. Her foot that had been shut against two different doors was also beginning to bother her.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a gruff voice said from behind her.

She stood up in a rush, turning around. Two wolf demons, from the pack of bandits, stood before her. She blinked at them, actually not sure what she was seeing. They had rooted out the wolf demon bandits, though, on the Great Hawk Spirit's orders via Mother. Yet they were dressed just like the other bandits they defeated six weeks ago. She brought her fire dragon around her neck. Even that was difficult to do with how depleted her energy was. She panted just at the effort of doing that. She kept her eyes on two wolf demons before her. She reached down to her belt for her knife, but it was not there. She tapped her hips, feeling around for it. It was not there. She felt with both hands around the whole of her hips, but nothing was there. Her belt was missing. She felt ready to panic at that. It was never missing. She always had to wear it as back up protection. Father insisted. She wondered if the prince had knocked it off by accident when they were sparring earlier...

"What you doing, little girl?" a barking voice asked behind her. She rounded on the voice, seeing a third wolf bandit.

'Three of them,' she said to her fire dragon. 'But they were all dead,' she asserted. 'How are there three of them left?'

'Pay attention,' her fire dragon cautioned.

She looked back and forth between the three wolf demon bandits around her. She turned her body sideways so she could face them both. She stood at the ready, unsure how or if she should engage in this fight. She studied the three of them. Two had swords and one had a dagger of his own. If she could get any of their weapons, it would change the tide of the fight. Getting one off of one of them though, that was going to be the difficult part. Not to mention her foot was starting to throb.

"What you doing out so late, sweetheart?" one of the wolves drawled out. He took a step closer. She took a stance in which she could either run or fight in an instance. "Jumpy, are we?" he asked, pausing.

She began to sweat. Just the act of keeping her fire dragon around her neck was draining what little energy she had left.

"Are you lost?" the second one asked her.

"We could help you out, girly," the third one said. To his two other cohorts, he asked, "this is the one who's been sparring with the prince, isn't it?"

She held her breath, not liking what he was saying.

The second one commented, "we're supposed to take the prince captive though, some hussy."

She scowled at that. "I'm the Lady of Alaric," she told them confidently. "And you are in my territory, disturbing my people. I'll give you just this one chance to surrender."

They laughed at her at that, and loudly. She seethed, knowing if she had her spirit energy or her knife, they would die laughing. She turned, launching her tired, hungry, and injured self at the third wolf, standing by himself.

She charged at him, tucking and rolling at the last minute. She stayed low right up close to him. She swept her leg around, hitting his lower legs to knock him to the ground. She was at his side, yanking at his sword to haul it from its sheath. She managed to get it out, but felt arms come around her middle, pulling her up and off of the wolf demon bandit. She had the sword though, locking its hilt tight in her hand.

She kicked behind her as best she could, hearing a pained groan behind her. The arms around her let go. She kept the sword in hand, driving it up and into the wolf demon bandit around her. She stabbed him through the middle. She pulled the blade out, watching the now dead demon fall to the ground before her.

She turned around, holding her breath in panic. There should have only been two wolf demon bandits standing near there now. Instead, there were seven...

"Fuck," she swore. She let her fire dragon fade away.

"That's not very ladylike," one of the wolf demon bandits commented.

She held her grip on the stolen sword, turned, and ran as fast as her injured foot would let her in the other direction. It was so dark out now. She hoped the direction she started running was towards the castle or the village, but it was too dark for her to tell. She could hear footsteps coming up behind her. They were getting closer. She drew a deep breath, and then shouted for help.

The shouting slowed her down, enough for one of the bandits to over take her. One of them tackled her from behind, knocking the sword from her hand. They landed hard on the ground. The bandit that had her was quick though. She could smell his reeking breath up close and personal. He grabbed her by the bun of hair piled on the top of her head, hauling her up to her knees by this. Another one came next to him, binding her hands around her back. She felt a wave weakness wash over her. Draining wards. She cringed. Father said they were the worst. It took an equal amount of energy used by its wearer that they exerted, doubling everything. Breathing was took twice as much energy now, blinking was twice as hard now, etc. She was much too weak in her current state for this kind of thing.

"Aren't we supposed to take the prince hostage instead?" a bandit asked.

"She'll do," a new voice echoed around them. A velvety, man voice.

Hikari tried to turn her head to look in the direction of the new voice, but the bandit that held her hair prevented that.

"Our king," one of the other bandits said.

The velvety voice laughed. The sound of it made Hikari feel uneasy. A new man stepped around the group and into her line of view. He was tall, stocky, and his head was completely clean shaven. His ears were sharply pointed. An elf. He stepped up to her, kneeling down right in front of her. He brought his face much to close to hers. "I know that face, those eyes," he commented. "But they are the wrong color." He loosed an unsettling laugh.


	90. Chapter 90

"Where is she?!" Hiei hissed in frustration.

Nanashi stood near him, with Izo and Prince Takashi in the middle of the forest between the castle and the village. Hiei had been traipsing them back and forth through the woods for hours, trying to track Hikari. It was a jumbled up track that zipped back and forth all over the area.

"They wanted us to lose the trail," Prince Takashi muttered irritably. "Whoever they were."

Hiei heard him, turning on him. "I can track anyone anywhere," he told the prince. "If you ever tried to run from me, there's is no where you could hide that I couldn't find you." He swore. He covered his ears and closed his eyes. His Jagan Eye glowed and pulsed on his forehead.

Prince Takashi grabbed his head next to Nanashi. "Would you stop invading my mind! You've already combed through my memories from last night!"

Nanashi bit her lip. They had discovered Hikari missing by mid morning. The last person to see her was Prince Takashi last night when she tried to kick him out of the castle, leading to the two of them fighting verbally. Nanashi already knew Hiei reviewed the prince's memories of the incident over and over again, back and forth, finding nothing there as a clue to her whereabouts. No one in the village or the nearby farms knew where she was either.

Hiei gave up on reading the prince's memories, shuffling around the area once more. He knelt down, studying a certain patch of grass. "She was standing here. Then they picked her up, her footprints disappear right here."

"Who were they?" the prince asked.

Hiei looked over at him once more. "Eight people. One was killed, but carried off along with Hikari."

"But who were they?" the prince repeated.

Nanashi looked over at Hiei, knowing his patience was beyond wearing thin, especially with the prince. She spoke gently, "we don't know. And we can't sense her or them either."

"Why?" the prince asked her.

Nanashi shook her head. "We don't know," she answered, feeling her own panic trying to overwhelm her. She felt a knot in her stomach, wondering if this was some kind of punishment for not telling Hikari to wed Prince Takashi selflessly like the Great Hawk Spirit told her to. She looked down at the ground, trying to quell her panic.

Izo stepped up to her. "She's still alive," he said comfortingly. "I would know if something happened to her. That can't be camouflaged from me."

"Yeah, but in what state?" the prince scoffed.

Hiei huffed. "Where's the map of the forest?" he demanded, stepping over to the three of them.

Nanashi had been holding it. She passed it over to him, hoping he could use it in tandem with his superior tracking skills. It made her hearken back to a few years ago when they had actually mapped the whole area in and around a big chunk of the area around the castle together. She had flown and he had scouted out the ground. The map was a perfect as it could be.

"We need to start here, and widen our range. Go in a circle that keeps getting bigger and bigger until we find her," Hiei ruled.

"That'll never work," the prince complained.

"It's the best idea we have," Izo said to the prince.

The four of them split up to try the idea. Nanashi flew while the other three stayed on the ground, searching through their now designated third of the circle for Hikari.

Once night fell however, Nanashi met up the the three of them at the original site. It was too dark for her to see. The prince complained that he could not see as well. Hiei and Izo had better night vision, but both looked exhausted for all their searching.

"The village was in my section," Izo explained tiredly. "Still no one has seen her since we asked after her this morning. The mayor did agree to form a search party to continue looking for her through the night."

"Lucky," Prince Takashi had commented. "All I had was a bunch of caves and tunnels at the base of the mountains."

"Did you search them?" Nanashi asked.

The prince shook his head. "She wasn't in there," he sighed. "I nearly got lost myself in there."

"The castle section yielded nothing," Hiei admitted. "Some of those there are out searching now. Asa has organized the search party." He looked so exhausted, stressed, and worried. Nanashi wished she could do something, anything, to take that worry away for him.

"I didn't see anything from an aerial view," Nanashi explained. She felt the dull headache that had been her head for the later half of the day trying to draw attention to itself again. "She... she wouldn't be out so late like this. Nor could she have gotten so far in a day... But she wasn't on her own, or willing for that matter..." She sat down by a tree trunk tiredly. She was unsure if she could keep going, not matter how much she wanted to...

"My angel, wake up," the prince said next to her.

Nanashi jumped, awaking up in front of the tree she had been leaning against. "What happened? Where's Hikari? Has she been found?" she rushed out.

Prince Takashi shook his head. "No such luck. Izo and Hiei are still searching. They said they went to the caves I had searched earlier. She's not there. I didn't sense her there anyway," he grumbled. "Not that Hiei would listen."

"No one can sense her, that's the problem," Nanashi groaned. She rose up, exhausted. "Let's go help them," she said tiredly. She stumbled tiredly, but kept going.

"My angel," he said, catching up to her. "Neither of us can keep awake much longer. Lord Hiei said to carry you home, but I wasn't sure if I had the energy to."

She stopped walking, looking at him. He looked exhausted and guilty. Nothing in her could make her blame him for Hikari running off, no matter how much she wanted to. He wanted Hikari to be found, to be safe and sound, just as much, if not more, than she did. "We're going to find her," she told him, looking him dead in the eyes.

They trudged back to the castle, where the staff was down to only a few people who were not already out searching. They looked just as exhausted as Nanashi felt. She spotted Asa at the side of the entry way, speaking with others. Asa looked up, studying her, making her feel self conscious.

"I just need coffee and I can go back out again," Nanashi ruled, heading for a table laden with coffee and other snacks for those involved in the searching. She had a cup in hand by the time Asa was standing next to her.

Asa placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come with me, sweetness," Asa whispered in her ear. "Somewhere private, you'd prefer that."

Nanashi sat the reluctantly sat the coffee cup down untouched and followed Asa through the dining hall, passed the kitchen, and a spot in the hallway near the pantry that was unoccupied.

Without a word, Asa turned to face her, pulled her in, and hugged her fiercely. Nanashi whimpered at that, allowing herself be open about her nerves and panic. She shook freely, not sure how or what to say. Finally, she admitted, "it's all my fault."

"It isn't," Asa assured her.

The guilt caught up to her, knotting up in her stomach. "It is. I withheld a message from the Great Hawk Spirit, so now I think angels took her."

Asa pulled away from her, looking her over. Asa's hands rested firmly on her shoulders. "What message?" Her face oddly read triumphant, yet disappointed.

"Hikari was supposed to wed the prince immediately and selflessly," she admitted. "But that should be her choice-"

"You shouldn't have decided to withhold that," Asa scolded her. "You're one of her angels, just like your father was. He followed her orders to protect and rescue your mother. You've been called on to be her messenger. You've been her messenger before. You're withholding of information about her has only yielded you drama later. Like when you were told to confess about writing Jin's name down to Hiei, only to do it when you could no longer avoid admitting it. And the two of you have been strained by the secrets you've kept from each other ever since."

Nanashi ran her hands through her wind tousled hair. "If- when we get her back, I'll tell her. Then she can decide for herself, so she still gets a say in the matter." Nanashi felt shaky and tired. "I need to go out again and search more in the skies."

Asa looked at her disappointingly. "If you think she's been taken by angels, then maybe sleeping is your best bet. It's how you've been given messages before. Go to sleep, and hope she takes you into her realm to tell you how to make it up to her to get your daughter back."

Nanashi felt a wave of panic broil in her chest once more. She shook her head. "That won't work anymore," she choked out. "The block Hiei put on my mind, remember? So I could sleep without fear of going back into her realm."

Asa sighed, unsure how to respond further. "Are you withholding anymore messages from her?"

"No," Nanashi replied honestly.

Asa looked her over. "No matter what the messages contain?" She did not believe her.

"I have shared everything-" she started.

"You've said that before," Hiei's voice said behind the two of them.

Nanashi turned around, suddenly feeling surrounded. "Why are you here? You and Izo were searching the caves for Hikari."

"It's too dark," he answered. "Even for us. We have to wait until morning," he added unwillingly.

"How much did you hear...?" she asked nervously.

"Enough to know you intentionally withheld another message and think Hikari was taken by angels in punishment for it," he stated bluntly, stepping up to her. He reached his hands up to her head.

She flinched, stepping back and running into Asa behind her. He brought his hands down to his sides. "What are you doing?" Asa's hands clasped her upper arms. Her grip was firm and strong, even in her old age. "What are you doing?"

"Removing the block from your mind," Hiei stated.

"I figured you were still withholding a message from us," Asa explained. "You were behaving the same way you did when you tried to hide the king's message all those years ago. And only with me you would let your guard down long enough to share it. I'm so sorry, sweetness." Her voice sounded just as guilty. "Take away the block and send her to sleep," Asa told Hiei in a strained voice. "If it was really angels who took Hikari, this is the only way of finding out."

"Asa," Nanashi breathed her name. She felt Asa's grip slacken on her upper arms. She shook and stepped forward, closer still to Hiei. "I- I'm so sorry," she confessed. "I-" she shook her. She dropped down to her knees, hanging her head in the shame of it all. "Do it. Do it all. Remove the block. Send me to sleep. I want to do it. I'll face her. I'll face her willingly. Her, and the consequences." She shuddered.

She felt Hiei's hands clasp either side of her head. She panted at the itch she felt tickling through her mind. The block was gone now, even if his hands stayed on her head. The Great Hawk Spirit could take her now, would take her now. The very idea terrified her. She dwelled on it. What if she would be attacked for her disobedience, or trapped in her sleep in that realm forever? What if-

She gasped, pulled out of her dwelling by a sudden and unexpected kiss from Hiei. She opened her eyes to see him kneeling in front of her, hands still holding onto her head. "Sleep," he told her, voice echoing into her ears and throughout of her mind.

She felt her body pitch forward, willing herself to not resist his order. The last thing she noticed was him catching her upper body as she fell.


	91. Chapter 91

Hikari felt herself wake up slowly. The muscle aches in her shoulders and her calves were the first things she realized. She shifted, trying to move her muscles around. Then she realized she could not move. She gasped, suddenly awake and alert. She was bound to a chair, arms tied behind her back and legs tied to the front legs of said chair. She tried to summon up her fire dragon, but something around her neck shocked her. She gasped. Something papery crinkled around her neck. A ward... it had to be a ward against fire demons... She vowed to herself that if she ever got out of this situation, whatever it was, she would destroy any all wards against demons she could find.

She surveyed the room she was in. Dark. Equally dark with both her eyes open and her eyes closed. No sign of natural light. It could be anytime day or night. It was cold and damp, a still chill hung in the air. Under ground possibly. She could hear muddled voices in the distance beyond her. She wondered where they were, what they were. The wolf demon bandits. There had been more of them in the pack. When she fought them with her family and the royal family, they thought they had killed all of them, just like the Great Hawk Spirit told Mother they should. At least seven were alive though. Eight, counting their elvish leader who looked so weirdly familiar. He set her nerves on edge though, that was for certain.

She twisted her neck around, trying to get the ward off of her. When that didn't work, she twisted at her bounds around her wrists, trying to yank her arms free from them. When that was fruitless, she pulled at her lower legs, trying to get them loose. All she managed to do then was bounce the heavy chair she was bound to on the floor. She determined she could not stand up with being bound to the chair either because only her tip toes barely touched the ground. If she tipped the chair over, she would fall over, which would be a worse situation than she was currently in just sitting there upright.

She could hear noises growing closer, but muddled ones. She heard the sound of a squeaky door swing open in front of her, followed by torch light stream in with it. She saw the bald elf, standing before her, torch in hand. He entered the room, followed by a series of wolf demons behind him. They stood along the wall by the door. The elf placed the torch into a bracket hanging on the wall. The dim light was enough for her to see and count by. A dozen wolf demons, and one elf. Hikari felt her stomach sink at the sight of them. Mother was told by the Great Hawk Spirit to get rid of all the wolf demon bandits and their leader. They had failed...

"You're awake," the elf said in a chipper tone. It set Hikari's teeth on edge. "You were knocked out a little to hard by someone," he glanced over his shoulder at the biggest wolf demon behind him. The one whose breath was rancid. "We need you whole, princess, unless of course you don't want to cooperate with us. If you don't wish to help us, well..." He let the threat hang in the air, but looked back at the biggest wolf demon once more, who loosed a lecherous laugh.

Hikari kept her face blank, not wanting to show any fear of what he was threatening. She was determined not to allow him any information.

The elf circled around her chair. Hikari watched him, head following him. He grabbed an empty chair that was behind her and drug it noisily around in front of her. He sat down on the chair backwards. He stared at her, arms coming to rest on top of the back of the chair.

He smiled at her. That smile was eerily familiar. "You know, when you attack an ice maiden to get her tear gems, it can have quite the unexpected consequences," he reminisced. "Wasn't as enjoyable as some people would think, with all that crying."

Hikari kept her face still, but puzzled over that internally. She wished she could puzzle it out with the fire dragon, but she was held back from that by the ward.

"Decisions you make can have unintended consequences," he lectured. The glean in his eyes were almost manic. "Could yield you useful consequences. You, or one of your brothers." Another veiled threat. "Tell me everything you know about Prince Takashi and King Hayate. Well, King Hayate's trip." She stared at him. On the inside, she felt hunger remind her she had not eaten in a while. She did her best not to let it show on her face. "We're waiting," he said in a sing song voice. When she did not speak, he rose up suddenly. "Okami, you can have her," the elf suddenly ruled. "Guess she doesn't want to be queen someday."

The elf stepped away from his chair as the biggest wolf demon stepped away from the wall and towards her.

Hikari gasped, feeling her panic take over her. "No, no," she said, leaning away from the wolf as he bent over to untie her hands. If he was allowed to do this, it would not end well.

The elf cocked his head at her. "You'll talk, princess?" he asked. Okami was still untying her hands.

Hikari flinched away from the wolf demon. The feeling of his furry hands made her cringe. She nodded her head up and down.

The elf snapped his fingers twice. "Back off," he ordered. Okami grumbled, retied her hands, and stepped away. The elf sat back down on the chair backwards. "Ready to talk already?" he asked. "Because if not, Okami likes them young. Even if you are valuable to me, for now." He paused. "So how long have the king and queen been out of the country?"

She shifted. "Just over six weeks," she answered. She met his eyes, not wanting to look afraid of him.

"Why did they go?" he asked.

She kept her gaze on him, even though it was the wolf she was worried about it. "To find a dark crone."

The elf perked up that. "Why would they do that?"

She shrugged the best she could. "Can't find one in country. Lord Mukuro must have used them all up to buy her immortality."

"Why do they want one?" he pressed.

She wanted to keep her mouth shut. The elf turned back to look at Okami. "To break a blood bond treaty," she rushed out.

The elf turned back to her. "Who signed a blood bond treaty? And why is it so important that both the king and queen had to go and leave the prince in your care?"

She squirmed internally, not wanting to share. "The king betrothed the prince to someone who hates him in a blood bond treaty. The king and the queen want him freed from it."

The elf cocked his head. He raised his eyebrows. "Who is he engaged to?" Hikari bit her lip, not wanting to answer her. "It's you, isn't it?" He laughed at her. "Oh, that's rich." He muttered under his breath. "You don't like him...?" he laughed at that. "He won't be a problem for long if we play our cards right."

Those words made her stomach made drop. "I'm not going to marry him anyway. I despise him," she told him. She felt like she would not let this elf harm the vain boy prince though, if she could help it.

"You'll be queen without him," the elf told her. "If you play your cards right. I've got a way for that. Off in the Northeast section of Alaric. When you say you're the grandfather of the Lady of Alaric, it tends to make sway. Makes them want to support me in becoming the new king of this country. Just have two cousins to deal with first."

She gasped at that statement in spite of herself. The Northeast was where a lot of nomadic tribes lived. And then him wanting to become king... and him being her grandfather. That could not be true. She knew little about Father's father. Just that he was an abusive, manipulative elf who was disowned and disappeared. He was assumed dead years before Father was discovered to be his son... Yet now he was here, talking about becoming the new king, hinting at killing the king and prince to get the crown for himself. Then he mentioned she could be queen one day...

"All I get is a gasp at that?" the elf said with a laugh. He studied her. Abruptly, he stood up. He snapped his fingers twice. "Untie the princess," he said, standing up. The wolf demons left the room, save one.

Hikari watched the elf, ready to panic. Okami came over to her, untying her hands. "Don't," she breathed over to the elf. All he did was walk over to the entry and watched from there.

Okami had her hands undone, turning to undo her lower legs. She was not about to let him harm her. She bidded her time, letting him completely untie her legs before she made her move. She reached up to ward on her neck, intending to rip it off. It zapped against her skin on her hand and neck. She gasped louder than she had earlier. She had never been electrocuted before, but it had to feel something like that.

Okami rose up, looming over her. She was ready to attack him, fire dragon or no fire dragon. She jumped up, sending the heel of her hand into his gut, followed by a few swift kicks in the shins. She slipped her way around him, heading for the door. Only to be stopped by the elf. He picked her up with one arm, carrying her with ease deeper into the room. He dropped her on something low and smushy. She landed in a huff.

"Out," the elf said, snapping his finger at Okami. In the dim light away from the torch, she could see him leave. He turned and looked down at Hikari. "You almost behaved well enough to show me you were loyal. Then you go and attack my commander. He was only going to untie you. I think a night without a meal will bring you back into our alignment, princess."

He kicked the cot she lay on for good measure. Then he walked away from her, grabbed the lit torch from the wall, and left the room. The inky black darkness and the echoing sound of the door being locked from the outside was suffocating.

She got up, fumbling her way towards where the thought the door would be. She ran into one of the chairs, but made it towards the outer wall. She groped the wall, trying to find a handle. When she managed to find it, she tugged, pulled, and banged on it. She pounded against the door, half in frustration, half in terror. One thing that scared her the most was the realization that she could not sense anyone behind that door, even though she knew at least a dozen people were down in this cave with her.

When she finally felt worn out doing that, as well as dizzy from hunger and thirst, she slumped down to sit on the hard stone floor beneath her. She reached up to her neck once more, intent to not let go until the ward was off of her. She screamed at the shock waves it shot through her. She gave up for good at trying when she realized the tips of her fingers were bleeding from the fruitless effort. That concerned her. She put each finger in her mouth, sucking on them gently to keep them clean. She had learned from a young age that if she got cut, infection could happen easily to her. Mother worried about more than she did because she was once rather ill when she was like five or something...

Once her fingers stopped bleeding, she groped her way back to the cot, wishing for some water. A sense of hopelessness began to wash over her. "Takashi..." she murmured without thinking.


	92. Chapter 92

"She has to be somewhere," Father grumbled, hands pressing down on the map in front of him.

Izo stood at the other side of the table in the library from him early in the morning. Mother sat next to him, holding Brother, who had become more clingy in the midst of Sister's disappearance. Two days she had been missing so far.

Prince Takashi was standing near Mother. "I thought you said angels took her?" Prince Takashi asked. "And that if the angel- if Lady Nanashi went to sleep, the Great Hawk Spirit would reveal Hikari's location to us?"

"No one ever said that," Father said flustered.

"Yes, you did-" Prince Takashi began.

"No, not in those exact terms," Mother spoke up soothingly. She shifted Brother in her lap. "I thought that angels might might might have taken her to punish me for not revealing all the messages from the Great Hawk Spirit. And that me going to sleep could give us the chance to come back in contact with the Great Hawk Spirit to apologize and try to get Hikari back..."

"You mean like the message that I should have wed her immediately?" Prince Takashi asked. His lips curled and twitched as the words left his mouth.

"That and another message," Father quipped. Izo's ears perked up at the mention of another message.

"What other message?" Prince Takashi pressed.

Father answered for Mother, "one for me. A private message, and it's delivered and done."

"Keeping secrets leads to too much drama," the prince griped. Quite sensible words to Izo. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we've been in contact with Lord Jiro, whom the king named Protector of the Realm in the capital until he and the queen return. Lord Jiro has sent Kurama, Yasha, and a few other people to come and aid in the search for Hikari. We've also sent messages to the other countries' capitals for the king and queen so they can know what's going on as well," Mother explained. "We also asked them to research if it's possible for any kind of angel, or even an elf or demon to block someone from sensing someone else." Mother ran her hand through her long, loose hair. Izo noticed three hairs were shed on her fingers when she did that. Two were black, one was grey.

Prince Takashi shook his head. "No way someone can do that. And even if it did, it would be like an elvish ability being a mental one. Like... like my father's ability to read memories." Prince Takashi looked over at Father. "Wait, why didn't you get a mental ability? Most royal elves have them. Except Cousin Jiro. He never had one. Was one of the things his brother would sneak up on him and torment him about."

Father bristled for a split second, but Izo almost did not catch him doing so. The prince did not notice, but Mother did. "That's not important right now," she said. "What's important now is searching through those caves some more. They must extend farther and farther in than we thought. If it isn't angels who have her, it could be a demon or something. I know some of the nomad tribes up in the Northeast weren't exactly happy when Lord Mukuro conquered them. Nor were they happy that Hikari was made her heir."

Prince Takashi huffed. "Well, let's go ask those tribes then."

"It takes a week at least to reach them over the plains beyond the mountain range," Mother explained. "Besides, they prefer to keep to themselves. They won't bother us if we don't bother them kind of thing. We let them have their own autonomy."

"If the caves are empty, we're going there," Father stated. He folded up the map in front of him. "We need to finish searching them," he determined.

Father was heading for the door when Asa came rushing into the room, a partly crumpled piece of paper in her hand. "A note. A note. A ransom note," she panted out.

Father was next to her in an instant, prying the letter from her hands. Mother was up and next to him, reading the letter over his shoulder. She shifted Brother on her hip to make it easier. Prince Takashi read the note over Father's other shoulder. Prince Takashi put his hand over the mouth, shaking his head.

Before Izo could even get a chance to read the note, the blank look in Father's eyes made his stomach drop.


	93. Chapter 93

Hikari woke with a start, hearing the door to her cave prison open.

"Get her up. Get her cleaned up. Get her dressed. Get her fed and watered. You have one hour," the elf's voice sounded.

Hikari raised her upper body up from her cot on the ground. She could see light streaming from the torch the elf sat in the brackets on her wall. She watched him shoved another person into the room with them. Then he tossed three bags into the room afterwards. Last, he slammed and locked the door behind him.

"What's going on?" Hikari asked, voice cracking as it came out of her parched throat.

The person in the room was a young looking girl, probably four or five years younger than Hikari. Even though the girl was right in front of Hikari, Hikari found she still could not sense her. She wondered if her own hunger and thirst led to that.

The girl looked like she was mostly demon and little bit part tree. Her skin was a pale grey-muddy color, her hair was a dark grey-muddy color. Her hair was twisted and kinked, like roots from a tree. Her eyes though, were a vibrant green. She looked scared. Her lower lip was trembling. Hikari felt a wave of pity for the girl.

"What's your name?" Hikari asked, trying to mimic Mother's soothing tone.

The girl looked at her, wide eyed. "Maiha," the girl said.

Hikari inclined her head. "Hi, Maiha. I'm Hikari. Do you mind telling me what's going on here?"

Maiha hesitated. "The king said to get you ready," her eyes dropped.

Hikari shifted, going towards one of the bags on the ground, in hopes there were food or water in them. She found a bottle of water, setting herself on it almost immediately. She drained it down. Plain water never tasted so sweet. She looked over Maiha. She looked withdrawn, yet watched Hikari without blinking.

Hikari dropped the water bottle on the ground, rummaging through the bag for something to eat. She found some, sat down on the ground, and ate without tact.

She pushed the empty food container away, rummaging into the bag, wishing she could find another bottle of water to wash the food down with. No luck in the first bag. She pulled one of the other two bags over, and managed to find a larger jug of water in one. She went to drink from it.

"Stop, princess," Maiha gasped.

Hikari still took a drink from it anyway, albeit a smaller one than she planned. "What? Why?" she asked, wondering just how much of a savage she looked like to this little demoness. "And I'm not a princess."

Maiha stepped over to her, trembling like a leaf. "That water is supposed to be used for you to wash up. You can't drink it."

"Wash up? For what?" Hikari asked, nose twitching. Things were getting suspicious. Maiha stamped her feet on the ground. "What's the matter?" Hikari asking softly.

Maiha looked down. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything..." she said glumly. "Just to get you ready."

Hikari studied the girl and then shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, get me ready then," she said permissively. She went over to one of the empty chairs, sat down, and waited.

Maiha came over to her, sitting the jug of water by Hikari's feet. She dug out soap and two towels out of the bag. "Princess,... you should undress," she said shyly.

Hikari turned up her nose at that idea at first, but thought it best second. "Do not call me princess, do not look, and do not help me." She wanted to take care of herself by herself.

"Yes..." Maiha said, going over to the cot. She grabbed the third bag, digging a new set of clothes out of it for Hikari.

"...my lady," Hikari advised. She set to cleaning herself up. She avoided touching the ward around her neck. All the while wondering at what would be happening when she was ready and done with. Maiha was going to be too sheepish to answer questions, but Hikari tried another tactic to get information. "You're from one of the nomadic tribes, in the Northeast, aren't you?" she asked.

Maiha was not looking at her, but rather seemed fixated on the straightening out the clothes from the third bag. "Yes..."

"The wood demons' tribe?" Hikari pressed carefully.

"Yes..." Maiha answered.

"I haven't been up there in years," Hikari started conversationally. "It was a far trip and I hated it. Mother insisted I go meet the tribal leaders to show I meant them no harm as their new lady and they could be autonomous under my leadership... blah blah blah... I was like six or seven and Mother told me everything I should say and when to say it and how to say it. How have the tribes fared these past ten years or so?"

Maiha made no answer, but Hikari did hear her break out a sob. Hikari looked over at her. Maiha stood still, arms wrapped around her middle. The poor thing looked like she was trying not to cry.

Hikari finished toweling herself off, wrapped the biggest towel around her, and stepped over to Maiha. She put her hand on the Maiha's shoulder. Maiha flinched at her touch, stepping away from Hikari.

"He said you sent him... and that if I anger you in here, you'll burn me," Maiha choked out.

Hikari clicked her teeth. She took the clothes from the chair, changing into them. Not quite her style, but clean. She put her hair up into a bun towards the top of her head. Once the ward was off, it would be safe from her fire dragon that way. She spoke, trying to soothe the girl."I don't even know he was alive until he took me. Or even who was until like last night or yesterday or something like that. As for burn you, I can't do anything with the annoying ward stuck to my neck. I hate them. I have it in my mind to destroy every ward in the country." She looked at Maiha. She dropped her voice down to a whisper. "I don't suppose you could remove the ward for me? I could get us out of here if I could access my fire dragon."

"He'll punish me if I did. Or my tribe. What's left of us anyway," Maiha admitted.

Hikari stepped closer to the girl. "What happened to them?"

Maiha seemed to trust her now, rambling out, "he came to us a few years ago, having been overseas he said for nearly three decades. Amassing his treasures and wealth. He said he was the future king of Hayato. He said the prince and king were mismanaging the country, so he would save it, starting with us. That he was your grandfather and you were on his side. That you were the Lady of Alaric and were supporting him in this en devour behind your parents' back. So then you would be queen after him. He told us if we were loyal to him, we would be rewarded generously one day.

"The wolf tribe joined him first. Then a few others. Mine didn't... Most of my tribe is gone now, slaughtered. The rest of us are enslaved to serve him and the wolf tribe. They were the biggest tribe. He made them his own personal army. They're the ones who found these caves near the Alaric Castle. He put his shield around it so now one would know we were here. He kept a skeleton crew here, biding his time for a planned attack. Then his spy in the capital told him the prince was staying here. He wants the prince. Likely to hold hostage and make the king come for him."

"What shield?" Hikari asked.

"That's his mental ability. He can shield a fairly big area from anyone sensing who or what is in it," Maiha explained. "I can't even sense you now, my lady, even though you are standing right here in front of me."

Hikari frowned at that. "That would explain why I can't sense anyone." She asked Maiha again. "Can you take this ward off my neck, please?"

Maiha shook her head. "He'll know I did it," she squeaked.

Hikari did not press the issue as the girl seemed really scared. She would have to bid her time and wait for a chance to get the ward off her neck.

Both of them jumped when the sound of the door opened. In came the elf, looking regal and giddy. A small, circlet crown rested on his clean shaven head. The sight of him spooked Maiha, who looked down to the ground.

"Lovely," the elf said, staring at her. He waltzed over to her.

Maiha retreated farther into the room, going over by the cot. She started to make the bed of sorts by throwing the one blanket over it.

Hikari stood stock still as he approached her. He stopped in front of her, a bit closer than she liked. "Your hair should be down though, to cover up that ward from plain sight, just in case." He moved swifter than she expected, reaching his hands around her head and making her hair tumble down over her shoulders. She did her best not to flinch away from his touch.

"I prefer my hair up," she said weakly.

"The ward was a precaution, but it might upset someone or someones to see it. Best to hide it for now." He arranged her hair around her shoulders and neck to hide the ward. "You're invaluable. Without you, I would have none of this. The elvish-demonic nomadic tribes alliance. Your father, from what I heard of him, would never understand. Your mother is neither an elf nor a demon, and won't have a role in our future. But you're the oldest, and both an elf and a demon. And a lady. I can build off of that. Use it to become king. And one day, when you're older, you'll become queen." His hand dug in his pocket. "All those tear gems lead to a lot of wealth, but I saved one." He pulled out a necklace with a tear gem tied on the end of it. She kept herself still as he tied it around her neck. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have the prince within my grasp. I have waited years for this opportunity. We're going to be separated for a while, but if you can prove to be loyal, I'll get you back. Think you can handle that?"

"Of course," she lied, too scared to say anything else.

He smiled down at her proudly. He pulled her in for a big hug. She hugged him back, making herself do so. "Let's go, princess," he said, taking her by the hand to lead her out of the room.

Hikari let him lead her out of the room. She stole one last glance at Maiha, who was forgotten about by him. Hikari winked at her. Maiha watched her go.

The elf lead her down a tunnel light by torch after torch. His pace was either too fast for her, or she was still too weak from not eating or drinking for several hours. Her stomach did feel a little upset. He reached a squad of wolf demons, soldiers, not bandits, as they thought. The elf greeted them, talking with the head one, Okami. Hikari listened in quietly, finding out Okami was the head of the elf's guard, a general of a sort.

After speaking with the wolf demon soldiers, the elf lead them out of the caves. Hikari blinked up at the sunlight, eyes smarting. She looked around the forest they entered into. She thought it felt vaguely familiar.

"Keep up, princess," the elf told her, pulling her faster along next to him.

"Where are we going?" she huffed out, a little ashamed of how she struggled to keep up with him.

The elf stopped abruptly, turning to face her. "This might be my one chance to get the prince. I hope you understand that," he pressed. "Your parents and others are scouring the forest for you a lot more intensely than I expected. They can't find my cave base. So I sent them a note agreeing to give you back to them. I don't want to give you up, especially since I only got such a short time with you, but this will help us reach our end goal, trying to remember that." Hikari looked up at him, not sure how to respond to his words. She frowned. "Don't look like that. Don't be too upset with me." He bought all his words, which scared her.

"You'll want to get me back?" she asked, drawing her words out slowly and carefully.

"Oh course," he smiled down at her. "You're the princess and my heir."

Hikari looked down at the ground. She nodded glumly, pretending to be sad-ish. He turned and kept them walking at their brisk pace. She could not him to carry out that plan. She had to reach her parents, get away from him, and tell them everything. She studied the forest around her, looking back towards the cave entrance they came out of. She had to remember all that. Every tree, every rock, every bush, every blade of grass. Then they could go free Maiha, and who ever else was enslaved in the caves.

"Come on, princess, keep moving. We have to make it to our destination in time," the elf huffed.

Hikari looked up at her. They must have been late or about to be late for the meeting up with her parents. He was not happy about it either. This would throw him off. She took a risk and dropped, pretending to faint.

He dragged her by the hand for a a few steps before he stopped. "Princess Hikari, get up," he ordered shortly. She closed her eyes, laying there, pretending to be unconscious. He pinched her forearm unexpectedly. She winced at that. "You're awake, so you're fine. Get up," he ordered.

"I can't," she breathed out. "Too tired... too hungry... too thirsty..."

"Too human," one of the wolf demon soldiers grumbled.

"Keep your mouth shut," the elf ordered. "Princess," he strained out. "Princess, we can't stop. We can't be late."

Hikari nodded as best she could from the ground. She knew the longer she delayed, the more flustered the elf would be, and the better position her parents who have against this psychotic bastard. She pushed her upper half off the ground, started to stand, but let her legs give out beneath her. She breathed as deeply and rapidly as she could. She hoped her decision to fake weak would not stop her from being given back to her parents.

"It's all that little sprite's fault," the elf said. "I bet that little girl didn't even feed you."

Hikari realized he was referring to Maiha. "She did," she rushed out. "She did. She begged me to eat. I think I ate too much. I feel weak, and my stomach hurts," she pouted thickly.

The elf snapped his fingers. "Okami, pick her up and carry her. Gently," he ordered.

"No, I should walk," Hikari started, trying not to look too miraculously better as she tried to get up.

Okami was already looming over her. He scooped her up in his arms, and held her up in the princess carry. Hikari's nose wrinkled. He smelled like a wet dog that had been water logged for too long. She would have to endure it.

"Let's pick up the pace," the elf said. "We cannot be late. I won't tolerate it."

The elf took off jogging, with Okami and the other wolves not far behind him. Hikari wondered if actual her weakness had originally slowed them down, but her fake weakness lead her to be carried, so they were going swiftly now. She wondered now if she should not have faked weakness.

"Almost there," the elf said, stopping himself before entering the clearing near that farm house Hikari and the others had fought a couple of the wolf demons weeks ago. He stepped over to Hikari in Okami's arms. "Princess, you need to walk now. You cannot appear to weak right now."

Hikari thought about it. She could keep up the fake weak act or she could stop pretending to be weak, get out of Okami's arms, and get back to her parents as soon as possible. She made a decision, biting on the side of her tongue with her canine teeth. It hurt, making her eyes water.

"I can't," she said, blinking rapidly to make it look like she was ready to tear up. "Please don't be upset with Maiha for this."

"Who?" the elf asked. "Ah, that sprite child." He swore. He waved his finger in her face. "We'll have to carry her. Make sure when you see your parents get you back, you tell them them that little bitch is the reason you don't feel well. Let's go. We're late as it is."The elf lead their way into the clearing.

Hikari wished she could sense someone, anyone. The elf lead the way into the clearing in front of the abandoned farm house. She could hardly see around him as Okami kept his distance behind the elf. She certainly saw Brother, the prince, half of Father, and half of Mother. It took everything in her willpower not to jump out of Okami's arms and run over to them.

The elf called out, "sorry we're a little late-" he began.

"What did you did to my daughter?!" Mother shouted across the clearing, cutting him off.

The elf bristled. Louder, he said, "Sorry we're late. She isn't feeling well, she-"

"Why?!" Mother roared.

Hikari felt a strange tickle in her head. Father was in her mind. 'I'm okay,' she thought. 'I'm faking it.' Father said nothing back, but she could feel him moving him around in her mind. She thought about everything she went through in the past... she wasn't sure how long she had been held captive.

'Two days,' Father's voice said.

Meanwhile, the elf had answered Mother. "She was fed too much by a disloyal demon. I'll be sure the child be punished for her mistreatment."

'Don't let him hurt Maiha,' Hikari pleaded to Father.

"If it happened under your watch, it's your fault," Mother accused.

The elf bristled more. He snapped his fingers at Okami. "I grow bored of this. Return her," her ordered.

"I can walk," Hikari rushed. "I can walk." She slipped her way out of Okami's arms. Then she remembered to look weak. She faked unsteady on her feet.

"That's not what overfed looks like," Mother commented harshly.

"Just hurry with this," the elf said. "Go to your mother," he ordered her. She walked on, but he stopped her when she walked slowly passed him. He clamped a hand down on her shoulder. He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear, "it's only temporary, princess."

Hikari forced herself to walk slowly towards her family, save her younger brother, and the prince. She heard the elf snap his fingers. Okami was walking a few paces behind her. She looked back at him, wanting him to stay away from her.

She was walking slow on purpose, trying to keep herself calm. She looked over at her family and the prince. Mother took two steps forward, but Izo stayed her with a hand on her forearm. Father was staring behind her, hardly blinking. The prince drew a steeling breath. He stepped forward briskly towards her. He coming to get her.

The prince reached her about half way between the two groups. He stopped in front of her. "Have you been hurt?" he asked her, looking her over.

"I- not too much," she answered.

He was studying her, eyes resting on her neck. "Why's there a ward on your neck?" the prince snarled.

Without another word, he stepped up to her and ripped the ward off her neck. He looked over at the elf, tearing the ward half. Hikari breathed a sigh of relief to feel her fire dragon again. She felt the temptation to round on Okami, but she would not risk it. It was better if this return of herself to her family did not start a fight.

"Let's just go back," she said to the prince. She started walking towards her Mother, but noticed the prince stayed still. "Takashi?" she breathed. The prince did not say anything. "Takashi," she said, grabbing his hand and tugging on it.

The prince said nothing, but turned around to face her. He pulled her in close. She saw him bend down, so she arched her neck up towards him. He kissed her. He pulled away too soon. She looked up at him, blinking and perplexed. She pushed herself up onto the balls of her feet, kissing him this time.

"Enough!" the elf shouted. "I thought you said you hated him! Okami, get him over here and to me."

The prince pulled away from her, pushing her gently away from him. He turned around, walking towards Okami. "Wait. What are doing?" she asked, not quite sure what was going on. Hikari heard someone moving behind her. She looked back just long enough to see Mother jogging over towards them. "Takashi, what are you doing?"

Mother reached her. "Hikari, just come back with me, right now, please," Mother pleaded as she took her hand, trying to pull her back with her.

Hikari turned around to face Mother, shaking her hand out of her grip. "What is going on?" she felt her voice go tight.

Takashi walked over to Okami, refusing to look back. Okami took Takashi's hands, yanking them behind his back. Okami produced the same rope with draining wards that had once been used on Hikari. He tied Takashi's hands behind his back.

"I'm trading him for you," the elf called out to her. "See the big picture, remember?"

Hikari's brain caught up. Takashi was being traded for her. The elf would use him as bait to lure the king, to kill them both. "No!" Hikari protested.

"Hikari, please," Mother said next to her. "He's letting you go, but only if we go right now." She grabbed her arm firmly, squeezing hard.

"I can't, no, not without him," Hikari protested. Okami was starting to lead Takashi over towards the elf.

Mother looked up, and back over at Father. "Hikari, we have to go. Now," she hissed. She did her best to shove Hikari towards Father and Izo.

"Wait a second," the elf said. "My note specifically said bring her family and the prince for the trade." He snapped his fingers three times. The wolf demon soldiers behind him drew their swords from their belts.

Mother shot a glance at Father. She looked back over to the elf. "We did," she countered.

Hikari was still struggling to get away from her. Okami had started to march over to the elf with Takashi.

"How many grandchildren do I have?" the elf asked, with a smirk.

Mother gave Hikari a shove towards Father. Her wind dragon was on her neck and in her hands as an ax in a second. She put herself in front of Hikari. "Hikari, run. Now!" she ordered.

Hikari took the chance, running not towards Father, but around Mother and towards Okami. She had her fire dragon around her neck, ignoring the smell of burning hair. She had it down in her hand as a sword, going after Okami. Okami shoved Takashi towards the other wolf demons. Takashi stumbled and fell to the ground. Okami drew his sword from his side.

Everything next seemed to happen so fast. Hikari reached Okami, engaging in a sword fight with him. The elf ran towards them first, sword drawn and heading straight for Takashi on the ground where he had been shoved. Mother moved fast. She jumped in front of Takashi, blocking the elf's sword as he swung it down at the prince.

Other wolf demons started coming towards them, but she heard Father shout and then send his black hellfire dragon after the lot of them, cutting them off from the rest of them first, and rounding on them and burning them to a crisp second. Hikari heard Mother cry out. She spared a glance over at her, seeing she was fine, holding her own against the elf. She looked frightened though, wide eyed in terror. She was backing away from the remaining hellfire flames smoldering on the grass nearby. Hikari turned her attention back to Okami, trying to use her small stature against him. She glanced back to check on Father, knowing an attack like that surely would exhaust him as much as it would spook. Izo had Father leaning against him, he looked about ready to pass out.

All the while, Takashi was shouting, "untie me! Someone untie me! I can help!"

Hikari had been watching the others too much instead of watching Okami. He ducked down around her, hand swooping over the ground. She charged after him, ready to plunge her sword down on him. He dodged her blade, slamming into her. He would have knocked her down had he not have grabbed her and pulled her against him in time. He had a piece of the ward in hand. He pressed it against her neck, sending shock wave after shock wave through her. It was too painful for her to even scream. Her fire dragon returned to its slim form, raced up her neck, and back underneath her skin. Only then did the pain stop. Okami held her against his chest. His left hand held the ward piece on the left side of her neck. His head loomed over her right shoulder. His sword was pressed against her torso, ready to slice across it at a moment's notice.

"I knew you faking being that weak," Okami growled in her ear.

Hikari stayed still, watching the others, and watching for a chance to break free from Okami. Mother was still fighting protectively in front of the prince, swinging her ax with at the elf, trying to protect the prince.

"Kill him!" Father called out as loud as he could from Izo's arms. "Get the prince," he panted over at Izo. He shoved Izo away, but sank to his knees on the ground.

"What?" Mother called back, not taking her eyes off of the elf.

Izo ran towards Takashi, grabbing him and dragging him away from Mother and the elf. Once at enough of a distance, he busily untied the prince's hands.

"Nanashi, quit holding back and kill him," Father said from the ground. He was fighting to stay conscience. "Do it now!"

"But he's-" Mother responded.

"I know what he is, you... to..." Father was visibly shaking. He slumped his head down on the ground.

Mother rounded at the elf, coming at him harder. She wanted to kill him. Now that Takashi was out of her way, she was moving more freely. She swung her ax over and over at him, making him back away.

"Okami, if I die, kill Hikari!" the elf yelled over to Okami. Mother paused her swings, standing at the ready to start attacking again. The elf laughed in her face. "You won't touch me now," he threw at her. He charged at her now, with Mother only trying to keep herself from being hurt.

Then an arrow shot passed Mother's head, passing straight through the elf's throat. Hikari turned to see Takashi with his conjured up bow and arrow. He shot another arrow towards her and Okami, slicing along the outside of Okami's right hand with perfect precision. Okami dropped the sword he was holding against her.

Takashi held another arrow knocked and aimed at Okami. "Let her go, surrender, and you can live," he offered Okami.

Okami growled next to her, "you killed my king." He brought his mouth down on the right side of Hikari's neck and right shoulder, digging his teeth into her.

She screamed as loud as she could. Takashi's arrow launched, piercing Okami through the eye. Once he died, his body slumped, bringing her down with him.

Mother rushed over to her pulling her away from his body. "Izo! Heal her!" Mother called over to Izo.

Hikari felt like it was starting to get harder to breathe and that her front and back were soaking wet and sticky. She thought she heard the sound of bird wings.

Izo was down next to her. He raised his hands over her, but paused. "The wounds, she needs medicine for it first," he said, tapping against his pockets.

Hikari watched as he pulled out the vial that held an herbal solution to help fight infections. Usually he would give it to who ever he healed. He shook the vial, eyes going wide. He opened the vial, peering inside of it.

"Izo, she's bleeding pretty badly," Mother pleaded.

"I didn't top it up... I forgot to top it up," Izo said. "When you got shot in the shoulder, I just, I didn't..." He threw the vial away from himself in a short fit. He bent down over Hikari, healing her anyway. "We have to get her to Asa right away for medicine," Izo said, yanking her up. Hikari felt her stomach roll as Izo hoisted her onto his back in a fireman carry.

Mother was quick to take charge. "Get her to Asa then, as fast as you can. Prince Takashi," she called over to Takashi. "Get Hiei and get him back to the castle as well. He'll be fine, but he won't be awake for awhile." Mother had her wind dragon out, but as a set of dragon wings on her back. "I'm going to fly ahead to the castle, get as many people as I can, and make for those caves."

"What caves?" Takashi asked her, bewildered.

"The caves Ichiro had occupied as a base with some more of the wolf demons and slaves from the other tribes. They need rooted out," she ruled.

"How... how do you know that?" Takashi pressed.

"Hiei read about it in Hikari's mind and passed it all to me," Mother answered. "Now get going!"

Mother flew off at that. Then Izo took off running towards the castle with Hikari over his shoulders. Takashi went and grabbed Father, picking him up, and running after her and Izo.

Hikari felt overheated by the time they got to the front of the castle. As they went into the front hall, Hikari noticed about two dozen people waiting out front, a variety of weapons at the ready. Hikari recognized them as some of the castle staff and those in and around the nearby village.

Once they were in the front hall of the castle, Takashi sat Father down on the floor at the first opportunity. He huffed, rolling his shoulders and neck. Izo still held Hikari over his shoulders though. She could see from her vantage point Mother rushing down the stairs with Asa behind her. The two of them ran over to the three of them. Izo slipped Hikari off his shoulders gently. She felt dizzy when he did that.

Asa was over to Hikari, touching her forehead and looking her over. "She's hotter than she normally is. And much paler."

"Asa, you are sure you can handle watching over her and the castle and the prince?" Mother asked.

"What?" Takashi said, stepping closer to Izo. Hikari wished he had stepped over to her instead.

Mother looked at him, at all three of them. "I flew ahead and gathered some others together. Hiei read Hikari's and... and Ichiro's mind... I know about the caves he was garrisoned at. I know how many of them there are loyal to him, or enslaved by him. If we go now, we can catch them by surprise and root them out. I'll lead the charge. Asa will stay and guard the castle just in case something happens. Hikari is to weak to fight and might be ill, so she stays. Prince Takashi is too valuable. Ichiro might be dead, but the his followers might still want to kill him. Izo, I need you with me as a healer."

"What?" Takashi exclaimed.

"No," Izo said calmly.

"I can fight still," Hikari protested.

Mother blinked, not sure who to respond to first. Izo started before she could. "No, I should stay. Asa needs to watch after Hikari. I will take command of the castle instead."

Mother nodded at him. "Okay. Then I need to get going," she stated. She started to turn to head for the door.

"My angel, you are not going without me," Takashi stated confidently.

Mother turned a fierce gaze on him. "No, you can't. Ichiro wants you and your father dead. His men might still try to kill you."

He was bristling. "I am the prince of this nation. I will not hide within some castle walls and let you fight my battles for me."

"But-" Mother started.

"No buts," he stated a bit rudely. "I'm going with you. If something happens to me now anyway, Ichiro is dead. Jiro is still alive. So is Shura, and so is Hikari. If I die, the monarchy is still safe."

"What?" Hikari asked, not quite tracking. She started to feel tired of standing. She leaned against Izo.

Takashi looked over at her. "The line of succession. After my father, it's me, Jiro, Jiro's son Shura, and then you and your brothers. When my father offered to put your father in the line of succession, he turned it down."

"Oh," Hikari said, feeling suddenly woozy. She wished Izo would put her on his shoulders again. She leaned harder against him.

Asa stepped over to her. "You need to lay down as soon as possible."

"And we need to go as soon as as possible," Takashi told Mother. "You know the route and you know all about the caves, so you lead us, you lead the way."

Mother looked nervous, but nodded. She turned to both Izo and Hikari. "As soon as your father awakens, tell him what happened and if he can, have him join us." She stepped forwarded, kissing both of them on the forehead. "I love you both, and will be back as soon as I can." She looked over at Takashi. "Let's go," she nodded at him.

Hikari watched the two of them run out of the castle. She did notice Takashi give her a quick glance before going through the front door.

"You better come back, vain boy," she called after him.


	94. Chapter 94

Hikari felt hot, hotter than she ever imagined by the time Asa got her to her bedroom. Asa helped her clean up, change, and tucked her into her bed. Izo meanwhile had brought Father, still asleep, into the room with them and set him to rest on her couch. He also had made up medicine for her to take in case of infection, which seemed more and more likely as she felt sweat prick up all over her.

Asa had her laying down, tugging her loose fitting shirt over, checking her shoulder and neck. "Red and inflamed," she commented clinically. Izo handed her the medicine in tea form, who passed over to Hikari to drink down. Mother always seemed to flinch to drink something herbal given to her. Hikari wondered if she just didn't like the taste. "Did you put something on the wound before healing it?" Asa asked Izo.

Izo shifted on his feet, suddenly nervous in front of their surrogate elvish grandmother. "I... I didn't... I forgot to top it up after healing Mother."

Asa looked disappointed. "That can be a costly mistake," she lectured. Hikari watched Izo looked downcast. "She'll need a double dose then. Go and fetch that. While you're at it, get yourself a new dose of your emergency vial of medicine."

"Yes, ma'am," Izo said, rushing himself out of the room.

Asa turned her attention to Hikari, who holding her hand out for the cup. Asa passed it to her. Hikari made quick work to finish it off. "It doesn't taste that bad. Why does Mother not like to take it?" she asked aloud.

Asa pursed her lips, studying her lovingly. "You should ask her that question. When she comes back and you are better. Lay down, sweetness," she advised. Hikari did as she was told. Hikari felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her. Asa laid her hand on her forehead. "Much to warm yet." Her hand came down to the ends of her burned hair. It unfortunately stopped short of her neck now. "You worked so to grow that out and take care of it," she commented sympathetically.

Hikari did not want to think on that just now. Rather all she wanted to think about was sleep. "We can trim it up later," she said sluggishly. She closed her eyes, falling asleep quickly.

Hikari jumped awake, feeling hot and sweaty. Asa was shaking her arm in a rush. "Wake up, sweetness," she said. "You've gotten worse and need to take more medicine."

Asa helped her sit up, guiding the cup to her lips. She drank it as fast as Asa would let her, feeling so thirsty.

"Is there any just water?" she croaked.

Asa was sitting next to her bed, wrapped in a warm shawl. Izo was still in the room with her. The room's air had a bit of a blue tint and it was colder than she preferred. She was only under one thin blanket. She was still too hot. He went over to the table, grabbing a glass of water and bringing it over to the bed with him. She could feel the cold rolling off of him. She snatched the water from him, starting to drain it.

Asa put her hand on the tip of the glass. "Slowly, slowly," she advised.

Hikari drank slower, but finished the glass faster than Asa would probably have liked.

Izo took the glass away. Asa checked her shoulder and neck again, frowning. "Sweetness, we're going to have to cut the wound open and apply medicine to it directly," she warned.

Hikari felt herself start sweating all over again, but not because she was too hot. She turned her face away from Asa, squinted her eyes shut, and mumbled, "do it. Don't tell me anything, just do it."

Asa ruffled her hair affectionately. "We can heal it fast," she soothed.

Hikari felt a sharp tug on her shirt. She felt Izo's freezing cold hands grip her warm hands firmly. Then a sharp pain dig into her shoulder. She cried out, but willed herself to stay still, even as the sharp pain repeated against her neck and shoulder. They seemed endless, no matter how much she cried out. Finally, mercifully, the pain stopped, but she felt Asa's hands rubbing all over her once more wet and bloodied shoulder. Lastly, she felt Asa heal the wounds she inflicted on her. Izo let her hands go. Hikari watched him get up and fetch a bowl of cool water and a wash cloth. Asa helped her out of her now bloodied shirt, which made her feel self conscious in front of her brother, who mercifully, was up at her wardrobe, looking for a new shirt for her to wear. Asa cleaned her up. Once finished, Izo, without looking, handed Asa a new shirt for her to wear and took the bloodied one from her.

Asa took the bloodied towel and bowl of water away, into her bathroom. Hikari laid herself back down, ready to fall asleep all over again. She would have, had Father not jumped awake on her couch. Hikari heard him gasp, so she jumped alert, gasping in tune with him.

"What happened?" he demanded, standing up in a rush. "Where's Nanashi?" he demanded.

Izo answered him, "she went with Prince Takashi to lead an attack on the caves. You showed her the layout that you took from Ichiro's mind. She wanted to attack them before they realized he was dead."

"Who killed him?" Father demanded.

Izo kept speaking, "after you passed out, he told that wolf demon who had Hikari to kill her if Nanashi killed him. She couldn't do it after that, wouldn't risk it. Prince Takashi shot him for her. Then Hikari was bit by the wolf demon right before Prince Takashi shot him. The wound did get infected."

Father looked unreadable. He studied Izo, then Hikari, then Asa. He turned around, running out of the room in a flash.

"Where's he going?" Hikari asked, laying herself back down.

"To help Mother," Izo inferred.

Hikari laid herself back down on the bed, wondering how the fighting in the cave was going. She was tempted to touch her lips, but fell back asleep before she could.


	95. Chapter 95

Nanashi led the way with the other fighters plus Prince Takashi towards the caves that Ichiro and his wolf demon army, not bandits, had been hiding out. Nanashi could suddenly sense the lot of them, not so far away from the castle after all. It impressed her that Ichiro's gift had been so strong that he never allowed him nor his army to be sensed by her or anyone else. She could sense them now, but to her displeasure.

They got to site of the fight they had, which put Nanashi on edge. She saw the ashes of the wolf demons taken out by Hiei's dragon. A few tiny spots of black flames and smoke simmered in a few spots on the ground, waiting for themselves to burn out. She did not want to go anywhere near them with every fiber of her being. She saw the two dead bodies of Ichiro and his second in command, Okami. Nanashi's nose curled up in disgust at the sight of both of them. What she had learned from Hiei about either of them made her stomach sour. Horrid men who had done horrible things, and used Hikari's name to do it.

"We need to keep moving," she said to the others, ignoring the bodies and pretending to ignore how the flames made her feel.

"Wait," Prince Takashi said. He knelt down beside Ichiro's body. "They should be burned or buried. Later though," he ruled. He reached over, taking Ichiro's crown off of his head. He looked furious as he held it. He stood up, squaring his shoulders. "We'll take this. As proof he's dead. My lady," he nodded over to Nanashi. "We should keep moving."

Nanashi nodded back at him, gesturing to the others to follow her. She skirted around the black flames, not wanting them to touch her. She looked back, noticing the others did the same, following her lead. Her lead...

She kept going, heading towards the caves that Ichiro had occupied. Nearly there, she sensed two scouts posted. She was surprised they did not sense her or the others with her. She figured they never bothered to try what with Ichiro blocking anyone from sensing anyone else. She signaled to Prince Takashi, who saw them as well. He was able to shoot both of them through the throat from a distance with his conjured up bow and arrow before either of them could shout out a warning. He was deadly in his accuracy. She took the second to count herself lucky that Hiei had knocked her out of the way in time when the prince once accidentally shot her.

"Let's go," Prince Takashi urged, leading the charge towards the cave. Nanashi was right behind him, with the others following suit.

Nanashi over took him, leading him to the main part of the caves where most of the wolf demons and their slaves from the woods clan were. There were four dozen of them in total left behind in the caves, but she only saw three dozen. The wolf demons were being served a meal by nine slaves. There were a dozen slaves in the caves, so three were not here.

Everyone seemed to freeze in what they were doing, watching Nanashi, Prince Takashi, and the others. One wolf demon rose up, growled furiously at the sight of them. He reached for his sword, but his hand never reached there. One of Takashi's arrows burrowed its way between his eyes.

Nanashi leaned over to him, whispering, "only the wolf demons and a few of the others were loyal to him. Give them each a chance to surrender though."

"Right," he nodded softly to her. Louder, loud enough for everyone around them to hear. "Ichiro is dead. I killed your false king." He threw the crown up in the sky, shot it with an arrow, cleaving it half. "Everyone here is allotted one chance to surrender. Be quick about it."

That was when the fighting ensued. Prince Takashi was quick to pick off a few wolves who charged at them. Nanashi and the others fought those who came up close. Nanashi noticed the slaves kept the distance from the others, surrendering immediately. None of the wolf demons surrendered. They were not to difficult to take out, considering how caught off guard they all were.

Once the wolf demons were taken care of, Nanashi advised, "there's still three more woods demons and ten more wolf demons around here, somewhere. I'm going to look for Maiha."

"Maiha?" Prince Takashi asked.

Nanashi gave the woods demons, no longer slaves now, a second look over. The lot of them looked awfully young. "Maiha was the one who helped Hikari. Hikari is desperate to have her rescued, and she isn't here."

"I'll go with you," Prince Takashi said.

"No," she shook her head. "There's still ten more wolf demons somewhere. Hunt them down."

"Only if they don't surrender," Prince Takashi partially agreed. His mercifullness was admirable.

Nanashi ran away from him, sensing her way through the caves, going towards where Hikari had been imprisoned. That was likely where Maiha was located. She found the room, almost rushing passed it. She skidded to a halt, knocking on the door. She could sense someone behind the door, someone small, weak, and fragile. She knocked on the door. No answer. She pounded again. No answer. She opened the door and went through.

The light was dimmer in there, the torch on the wall nearly puttered out. Nanashi looked in the room, seeing a small figure huddled in the corner by a low cot on the ground.

"Maiha?" she said soothingly, stepping into the room. The figure did not answer. "Maiha, I'm Hikari's mother. We're here to rescue you." Nanashi knelt down next to Maiha on the cot. "Ichiro is dead. And so are the wolf demons."

Maiha looked up at her, gauging whether or not Nanashi was being honest with her. She let out a whimper, and then threw herself into Nanashi's arms. The child was so slim she felt like a bundle of warm, shaky kindle than a child in her arms. Nanashi scooped her up, cradling Maiha in her arms as she carried her from the room.

She heard a shout ring out behind her. She saw a lone wolf demon running towards her. She dropped Maiha in an instant, stood in front of her, and had her ax out and ready. She stood ready for the wolf to reach her, wanting him to get close enough to attack him.

Yet he never got that close, at all. Nanashi saw Hiei come up from behind the wolf demon and cut him down. Nanashi summoned her wind dragon away, sighing in relief. She was surprised he was there and awake, figuring more time than expected had passed. She turned back to Maiha, who was cowering against the wall behind her.

"It's quite alright, he's with us. He's Hikari's father," Nanashi explained, stepping over towards the child. She held her hand out to her. Maiha took it slowly. Over to Hiei, she said, "this is Maiha." She got the child to stand up and stepped over towards Hiei with her. "Is everything alright? How's Hikari?"

Hiei was looking at her, studyingly. "who killed Ichiro?" he deadpanned.

Nanashi bit her lip nervously. "I..." she started, setting herself to tell the truth. "I know you told me to kill him, but he said to kill Hikari if I killed him, so I couldn't. Prince Takashi killed him inste-"

She stopped speaking unexpectedly when Hiei pulled her over, kissing her unexpectedly. She let go of Maiha's hand, finding that awkward.


	96. Chapter 96

His girl looked okay, had to be safe tucked in her own bed and under the watchful eye of the wolf healer and her boy. Hiei was awake and out of the room the second he found out Nishi failed. She had not killed him, would not kill him for fear his girl would be a casualty in consequence if she did. The prince did it for her.

Hiei fled from the castle, heading towards the caves where he had held under his possession, hiding right under their noses. Hiei reached the sight where he and one of the wolf demons laid dead. He paused by them, wanting to look while at the same time not wanting to look. With a quick spark of hellfire for each one, they could other burn in this world as well as burn in hell for all they had done.

He continued on, rushing to the caves, wanting to find out if there was any fighting left for him, wanting to find Nishi and find out if there was any honest answers to be given to him. He reached the caves, sensing around it. The prince was outside the caves, giving instructions to one of the villagers who lived near the castle. "... I need to get back to her, but make sure the rest of the caves are clear and bring those who surrendered back to the castle with you- whoa, where are you going?" Hiei ignored him as he ran passed him.

Hiei sensed for Nishi, following her trail through the caves. As he neared her, he sense a wolf demon running towards her as well. Must have sensed her and was going after her as well. He was unaware of Hiei's presence, charging towards Nishi. Nishi stood her ground in the cave, ax at the ready. The wolf demon died before he knew what hit him.

Nishi sighed in relief, summoning away her wind dragon, relaxing her stance. She turned towards a figure huddled against the wall, trying to look smaller. The sprite that had helped his girl, the one his girl was desperate to rescue. Nishi had sought her out to rescue her for his girl.

"It's quite alright, he's with us. He's Hikari's father," Nishi's soothing voice told the sprite. The sprite watched him first, but then looked over at Nishi with a trusting look only a child could give. It was perfect to watch her work her charm to get the sprite to trust her. Nishi had the sprite's hand in hers, stepping towards him. To him, she asked, "is everything alright? How's Hikari?"

Hiei took a breath, hoping she would honest this time. Hoping she would speak the truth, and not hide anything. Hoping she could prove to be trustworthy again. "Who killed Ichiro?" he asked directly.

She bit her lip, looking away from him. "I..." He held his breath, waiting for her to speak true. "I know you told me to kill him, but he said to kill Hikari if I killed him, so I couldn't. Prince Takashi killed him inste-"

The truth. He stepped over to her, pulling her against him, and kissed her. She dropped her hold on the sprite's hand, bringing it to his face. She pulled away from him. "Hikari, is she okay? She was bit by that wolf demon, pretty badly. Izo didn't have medicine on hand for the wound. Asa was worrying over her when I left."

"Still alive. Asa was looking after her when I left," he answered, confident the wolf healer would have her righted soon.

"Let's go then," Nishi insisted. "I want to see her." She took the sprite's hand again. "You can come back to the castle with us. I'm certain she wants to see you're alright."

The sprite shifted her weight on her feet, slightly pulling away from Nishi. "May I fetch my things first?" she asked in a small voice, head lowered.

"Of course," Nishi answered sweetly. She let the sprite's hand go, but the sprite did not move. The sprite looked nervous again. "We ought to go with you. That way we can go back to the castle together," Nishi suggested.

"Oh, yes, please," the sprite perked up. "Please my... my... um, queen?"

Nishi looked pale at the name, shaking her head vigorously. Hiei figured she would have preferred the term angel to queen any day. "Nanashi is quite alright, Maiha," Nishi said friendly. "Lead on," she gestured for the sprite to lead them.

It did not take long for the sprite to reach her room, which looked way to small and clearly shared with others who had been enslaved with her. She nimbled her away around the cots on the floor, reaching hers. She had clothes on the bed, rolling them up in the sheet on the bed for her to carry. She put the small load on the floor. Next, she pushed the cot up, struggling a little under its weight. She reached underneath it, searching for something. She grabbed a tiny bag, giving it a quick shake. "Good, still dormant," she muttered to herself. She tied the tiny bag tightly to her waist. She looked up at Nishi, confessing, "if the king- the false king, had known I had these seeds," she tapped her bag gently, "he would have taken them in a heart beat."

"What kind of seeds are they?" Nishi asked.

The sprite left the room, the two of them following after her slow, trudging steps. "Extractors. My people used to grow them. The crops were all destroyed though when the wolf demons took us over..." she added somberly. "Maybe some of the plants survived in the wild or something..."

The sprite's steps were slowing, but Hiei was ready to get out of the caves that so much of him and his presence in them, even if he was dead. They could move faster if he carried her. He stepped over to her, picking her up. The sprite panicked, hitting and kicking at him.

Nishi stepped over, pulling the sprite away from him and behind her. The sprite shook, clinging to Nishi's arm. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked incredulously.

"She'll move faster in carried," he explained nonchalantly.

"Warn her next time," Nishi griped. She turned to the sprite. "We ought to move faster to the castle. Would it be alright if one of us carried you?"

In answer, the sprite raised her hands up to Nishi. Nishi sighed and scooped her up, carrying her herself. Hiei took her sheet bundle filled with clothes, but the sprite refused to give up the small bag tied to her waist. Huffing a bit, Nishi followed him on to the entrance of the caves, noticing the prince was nowhere to be seen. He was likely back at the castle, fawning over his girl. Ever since he was told the Great Hawk Spirit said they should have been wed, he seemed more open to the idea than he had before he knew of the message. Did not mean Hiei was turning into much of a fan of the idea.

The three of them kept going to the castle, but Nishi skittered to a halt, looking paler all of a sudden. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "The flames, your flames from earlier," she mumbled. "I think they might have spread. I can sense them more strongly than before," she explained. She was sweating, and not from the weight of the sprite she was still carrying.

"I burned the bodies," he explained.

Nishi closed her eyes, wincing at his words. "I'll just run passed them quick as I can," she murmured. "I hate them."

"What's wrong with the flames?" the sprite asked, scared herself since Nishi was.

"Angels don't like hellfire, even half ones," Hiei explained.

Nishi shook her head. "I want to get back to the castle and that's the quickest way." She took a steeling breath and charged through the clearing. She did not look at the blackened, still burning bodies. She looked straight ahead.

Once they were passed the clearing, Nishi slowed, but kept a brisk pace back to the castle. The sprite spoke up. "So you really are the half angel, half human that was discovered years ago?"

Nishi nodded, "yes," she answered.

"Wow... a real life angel..." the sprite muttered, star struck.

The sprite was silent after that, dozing in Nishi's arms almost by the time they reached to the castle. Nishi carried her up to his girl's room with them. Hiei opened the door for them and stepped in the room, but froze at the sense of tension rolling off the room.

The wolf healer was pacing on the far side of his girl's bed. Her boy was standing at the foot of the bed, a disbelieving look on his face. The prince sat on the nearer side of the bed, crying to himself as he held his girl's hand. His girl lay on her bed, pale and panting. The scent of blood, sweat, and even death hung in the room.

"No," Nishi's voice cracked, breaking the silence. She set the sleepy sprite down, almost dropping her. "I thought you said she was alright," she threw at him. She sat herself down on the bed next to the prince. She ran a hand through his girl's sweat soaked hair. "Hikari," her voice cracked. "What happened?" she hissed out, eyes on the wolf healer.

The wolf healer stepped around the bed and over to Nishi. "Infection. Healed in her wound. We've given her medicine to drink and cut the wound open twice to give her medicine directly to the wound. There isn't anything else possible to do."

Nishi was standing now, angry at the wolf healer. "No, you're wrong. You have to be wrong. Can't you cut off the source of the infection, like you did once with my wings?" The wolf healer did not answer, but pulled Nishi into her arms, holding her tightly. Nishi broke down at that. "This is my fault, all my fault. I hid the message, and now she's dying."

"What kind of infection is it?" a small voice asked next to Hiei, interrupting the turmoil that threatened his own thoughts. The sprite was speaking, hand on the small bag tied to her waist. She took a hesitant step towards to bed.

The prince answered, voice wavering, "one in her shoulder and neck. She was bit by the wolf demon who held her. I shouldn't have given him a chance to surrender. I should have shot him first. He would not have had time to bite her then."

The sprite moved around to the far side of the bed, stepping gingerly passed her boy. The sprite stepped over to Hikari, examining the swollen redness visible around her shirt. "Okami bit her?" she asked.

"Yes," Hiei answered for them all.

"Alpha bite," the sprite said. "Supposed to be fatal to non-wolf demons. Medicine wouldn't help, besides wolf bane and few others." She untied the tiny bag from her waist. She clutched it closely to her chest. "It would not be wasteful... these have worked on alpha bites on my people in the past... When the false king learned about them, he took the harvested ones from us and burned the gardens where we grew them... if he had known I had these ones..."

"What are you rambling about?" the prince snapped none too nicely at the sprite.

The sprite, reached into the tiny bag, pulling out three ordinary looking, light green seeds. "They are extractor seeds, they can extract most poisons and infections from wounds. They plant themselves in the person, roots sucking out the problem, and then bloom into flowers when they are done. They aren't easy to maintain as seeds. If they germinate outside of a person's body, then they just grow as ordinary looking white flowers. The seeds though are worth a fortune each if sold to the right buyer overseas. More valuable than even the tear gems Ichiro built his fortune on."

"Have you heard of them?" her boy asked to the wolf healer.

The wolf healer only shook her head. "Never. I have studied extensively on medicinal plants, but those I never heard of."

"They only grow in the Northern part of Alaric," the sprite explained. "Or, at least they did," she added with a small frown.

"Try it," Nishi insisted. "Please try it," she begged.

"If it's a fortune you want for them, the crown will pay you, I'll pay you," the prince insisted.

The sprite looked down at his girl. "She was so kind to me." The sprite looked up at Nishi. "And you came for me, rescued me." She held the three seeds up in the palm of her hand, closed her fist over them, turned her fist over, and slammed her hand down, open, on his girl's shoulder. "Please work..." she whispered. "If this works, it will be quite painful," she warned. "Oh," she said, pulling her hand away from his girl's shoulder.

His girl opened her eyes and panted. She whimpered weakly, reaching up to her shoulder with the seeds in it.


	97. Chapter 97

Hikari felt awful, hot and horrible. She preferred the heat usually, but this was much too much. She hardly felt it as Asa shook her awake to cut her shoulder open a second time and apply medicine to the wound. Whatever this was from this bite, Hikari had a shuddering feeling that the medicine was not working. She could tell the room was cold, but it helped her none. She felt tired, but unable to stay asleep beyond dozing.

She heard the noise of heavy footsteps stumble into the room. "Is she alright?" a loud, booming voice asked. She felt a heavy weight sit on the bed next to her and pull her hand over to it. She squeezed the hand feebly. "Hikari?" the booming voice asked. "Is she any better?" the voice asked louder. "She doesn't look a whole lot better."

Asa answered, "my prince, we've kept giving her medicine, but it doesn't seem to be working at all. Our best course of action now is to keep the fever down and let her sweat it out."

"That's it? That's the best you can do?" the prince's voice accused. "Mother said you were one of the best healers in the nation."

Asa answered him, but Hikari could not quite catch her words, slipping back into another hot and stuffy doze. She wanted to see Mother and Father again... She could have sworn she held the buffeting of wind behind her. Sensed, almost heard, something call to her, wanting her to turn around.

She woke up, feeling the sharpest pain in her shoulder. She blinked her eyes open, whimpering when she would rather have screamed. Too tired to scream. She grabbed for her right shoulder, but felt a tight grip hold her left hand back.

"Don't let her rip them out!" a small voice said next to her. Maiha. That was Maiha's voice. How was Maiha here?

Hikari felt less hotter, but as the heat dissipated, the pain in her shoulder and neck increased. She felt more lucid. She tried again to pull her left hand to her right shoulder. She felt a strong grip hold fast to her left hand, pulling it to their chest. She blinked her eyes open, seeing the prince was holding her left hand. She tried to yank her hand from him, but could not. She tried to use her right hand, but saw Maiha was laying down on top of her forearm, refusing to let use her right hand.

Hikari whimpered, biting back a scream. She pulled for her arms, but was too weak to get free from either one of them. She tried to kick and squirm her way free, but it did not work. "Please, please," she begged. She felt cooler now, almost chilled, but the pain in her shoulder increased. "Mother," she called for.

"I'm here, I'm right here," Mother said, wiggling her way onto the left side of the head of the bed next to Hikari's head. Her gentle hands came around her head, turning her to look at her. "I'm here," she soothed.

The moving her head away from her right shoulder made Hikari twinge, the pain ever increasing. "What is it?" she asked.

"Medicine from Maiha. It's almost finished. It's working," Mother soothed.

Hikari scrunched up her face, unsure if she could take much more of the pain. She almost gave in when something weird tickle against her neck and the pain stop all of a sudden. She tried to look down at them, but could not move her head for Mother's hands. Maiha reached up to her, pulling something from her shoulder, seeing the girl hold up three ordinary looking white flowers in her hand, but with red stained roots. She took the flowers away. Mother let Hikari's face go, but Prince Takashi held tight to her left hand. Asa maneuvered over to her right shoulder, rub something against it, and healed the pin prick sized wounds the roots left on her.

"What are those? What happened?" she asked tiredly. She sat up, Mother slipping almost off the bed to make room for her. Her shoulder and neck felt better, loads better. A bit sore and a bit tight yet, but the pain was gone. She felt cold, but a comfortable cold, like nothing had been wrong with her at all.

Maiha explained it all to her. The wolf demon's bite was an alpha bite, so nothing Asa or Brother had given her was going to help her. Maiha gave her extractor seeds, drawing out the poison from the bite. She also told her about how Mother came and rescued her, and Father as well. The prince took his turn explaining about the search for her, her grandfather, rooting out the wolf demons.

"There was also a message from the Great Hawk Spirit Nishi kept from us," Father added in. Hikari looked up at Mother, and then back over to Father.

"What message?" she asked, croaking.

Mother shifted uncomfortably. "You should have wed Prince Takashi. When he first got here. Selflessly."

Hikari stiffened at that. "What?" She pulled her hand away from the prince, unsure how to react to that. "When?"

"When she first got the messages," Father continued.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hikari asked Mother incredulously. She felt ready to shove Mother away from her.

Father cut her off. "She regrets it. She won't do it again. Go easy on her." Mother looked somber at that. "Any more messages she gets will be shared fully," he added in a warning tone. Hikari also noticed Asa looking down hoard on Mother.

"She won't get anymore messages," Brother said knowingly. Hikari noticed all eyes in the room turned to him. His eyes were shifty, but Hikari barely caught that look.

Mother brought her hands around her middle. "I imagine I won't be trusted with them anymore," she resigned. She looked over at Hikari, tears in her eyes. "Hikari, I'm so sorry," she apologized.

Hikari nodded, launching herself over and into Mother's arms, clinging to her like a small child.


	98. Chapter 98

Hikari rested after that, exhaustedly after that, but was feeling better the next day. It did seem annoying but nice that the prince was doting on her. She did like it, but was carving for some alone time. Did not help Mother and Father insisted on planning to go to the tribes up in the far north to investigate. The lot of them would be leaving for that trip in a few days time.

She had laid down for a nap after lunch, excusing herself from the prince that she did not need him to walk her to her room or wake her up in time for dinner. As she laid in bed, dozing, she thought about the prince, about the kiss he had given her. She touched her lips, wondering if they could do that again, if they should ever do that again. What with his parents off aboard searching for a dark crone to free him from the accidentally one sided blood bond treaty and all. She wondered if he were given the chance, that he would stay with her anyway, choose her anyway...

"Hikari," she heard a voice and a hand shaking her shoulder.

She jumped awake, reaching for her fire dragon, bringing it back up around her neck. The smell of singed hair greeting her reminded her she need to trim and even up what remained of her hair. Mother had offered to help her with it when she was ready.

Hikari blinked, seeing Brother, and then summoning away her fire dragon without a worry. "Izo, what is it?" she mumbled sleepily. She rolled over on the bed, pushing herself to sit up.

Izo alighted himself on the side of her bed, looking over at her bedroom door nervously. "I have to tell you something," he started.

Hikari sat up straighter, shoving the blankets away from herself. "What is it?"

Izo explained in a voice barely above a whisper, "when Mother did not share her message from the Great Hawk Spirit with you to marry Prince Takashi, she changed the course of the future." Hikari listened silently, trying not to breathe too loudly so she could hear him properly. She leaned towards him as he continued. "If you two had wed, the king and queen would have never left the country. Ichiro would never had made his move and captured you or hoped to capture the prince even. The king and queen would have been in country, and the lot of us would have down a tour throughout Alaric. Then we could have found Ichiro in the far North, with all the villages. We would have had a better chance to stop him together up there."

Hikari shifted, blinking, still feeling a little tired. "How do you know all this?" she asked, matching his quiet volume.

"I got two messages from the Great Hawk Spirit," he confessed. She gasped. "The first one came the night before we got you back, but I didn't get a chance to share it. That message was Mother would no longer receive messages from the Great Hawk Spirit anymore because of her refusal to share them. I was also told to stay with you after you were rescued."

"That's why you didn't go to the caves with Mother and Prince Takashi?" Hikari rushed out, louder than she meant.

Brother nodded. "I don't know why I couldn't have gone with them, that fight was so easy with the wolf demons being caught unprepared. Whatever the reason was, I stayed."

Hikari nodded. "Have you told Mother?" she asked.

Izo shook his head. "I'm not going to either. She already suspects she won't be a messenger anymore, realized it on her own. She was so worried when you were taken, regretted not sharing the messages she should have in full. She assumed you were kidnapped by angels and taken away as punishment for her refusal to share the messages she swore she would. My confirming her being bared from being a messenger anymore would just upset her more."

Hikari nodded, agreeing. "I wouldn't have wed him anyway," she resolved. "At least... back then I wouldn't have..." she reminiscenced.

Brother shifted next to her. She looked up at him when he spoke. "Last night, I got my second message. One about you and the prince," he said. Hikari looked at him, waiting for him to continue on bated breath. "There's no urgent need for you two to wed anymore." She felt her shoulders slump, disappointed. "The king and queen are still abroad looking for a dark crone, but will likely rush home with or without the dark crone. The Great Hawk Spirit said the future was unclear whether they will find one before they return home. But the Great Hawk Spirit did say when the prince reunites with the king and the queen, that's when you and he will need to decide to either be together or not. She did say, given enough time and searching, he will eventually be freed from the blood bond treaty, but she's unsure how that could play out, if it is allowed to play out."

"So, he'll be free from it? One day?" she asked in a small voice.

Brother nodded. "Eventually, if the two of you don't wed before that. She wasn't sure how long it would take, considering the future is not set in stone, as we have seen. The decisions others make affect our lives, just as the decisions we make affect the lives of others."

Hikari tucked her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Did you tell him yet? Takashi?" she asked, nervous about what Brother's answer would be.

"I haven't yet," he answered. "She said the message was for you, so I only had to tell you. She insisted on that."

"Tell him, just him" she ruled, not wanting to give that permission. "Give him a choice, too."


	99. Chapter 99

Hiei felt a deep seated exhaustion come over him after the past... what? It had only be a week. With his girl's disappearance, the discover of... him... the prince's... actions... right before his girl had been rescued... The need to go to the far North and investigate what was going on with the tribes up there... It was all so overwhelming to be sure. Now they were planning to go to the North, leaving early tomorrow morning. Nishi had taken charge of planning that, even a bit nervously.

It did not help that early in the day the fox, the stranger, the detective, the oaf, and Yukina showed up at his girl's castle in a huff. The claimed the uncle had sent them after hearing about his girl's disappearance. It was quite a load of energy and excitement brought with them, almost an overwhelming amount. The worst was the decision to decide who of the new set of them would go to the North with the others, and who would stay behind and help the wolf healer mind the castle and look after their son, who was too young to travel with them. In the end it was decided for Yukina and the oaf to stay as well.

Hiei excused him into their rooms to escape the excitement. He muddled things over in his mind, dozing on the bed more than sleeping on it. Nishi's keeping the bird's messages to herself, her lies, and her actions. Yet when his girl was taken, she was repentant, doing everything thing she could think of to find his girl and rescue her. She may have hesitated to kill... him..., but made sure she rescued the little sprite for his girl. He hoped she had proven she had changed, could be trustworthy again...

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted at the sound of Nishi coming into the rooms. She sighed, trudging her way into the bedroom. She halted in the doorway, less noisy all of a sudden. She hummed under her breath, and started moving again so quietly he could scarcely hear her.

He opened his eyes, looking over to see her changing into her pajamas, feeling a sudden temptation at the image of her undressing. It had been a long time since they two were together... he could hardly recall the last time. He was unsure if the trust was there enough for such a thing, though.

She turned back, looking over towards him. "Oh," she said softly. She had pants on now, but no shirt. She held her unworn pajama shirt up over her exposed chest. "I thought you were asleep," she said in the softest voice.

She looked just as exhausted as he was, if not more so. Desirable, but tired. He sat up, throwing off the blankets over himself. She looked over at him curiously, a rosy tint coming to her cheeks. She dropped the top in her hands, allowing him to see her topless. He huffed at the sight of her, wanting to give into the desire to take her. She stepped over to the bed, crawling into with him. She came over to him, hand on his chest, and kissed him. He almost pushed her away.

"You're not keeping anything else secret?" he asked, moving his mouth down and away from hers.

She pulled away, shaking her head. "I wouldn't. I can't... I'm not..." She sounded wounded.

"Not ever again," he emphasized. She nodded, looking down.

He rose up and pushed her down, laying on top of her. He gave into his desire for her, kissing her.

She kissed him readily, taking the lead from him in a rush. She took the lead, rolling the two of them over so she could be on top of him. He huffed, but allowed her to do as she pleased. She rose up, panting. Her hands trembled as she tugged off his own. Her hands shook just as much as she took her own pants off. She was back on top of him, kissing him, and now rubbing at his cock almost too roughly.

When she had him hard enough, she did not hesitate to climb on top of him, slipping him instead of her. He allowed a moan to escape his lips. She kept her body upright, hands resting on his hips to help him bounce up and down on top of him. His hands came over to her hips, gripping her hard. He felt her tighten against him, slowing down and then pausing long enough to let out a long, contented sigh.

She lowered her upper body down, hands now resting along either side of his chest, moving up and down on him still, but at a slower pace. He closed his eyes, shaking as she brought him to his own pleasuring end.

She finally stilled, laying herself down beside his own panting form. "Never again," she whispered in his ear. "My beloved one, never again," she promised.


	100. Chapter 100

Prince Takashi watched the scene play out before him, sitting stiffly on the back of his hippogriff near the entrance of the Alaric Castle. He could tell everyone else around them was waiting impatiently as well. Everyone was waiting for the angel and Hikari to come out in the early morning and join the lot of their group heading North: Hikari's family minus Kaze and Asa, Uncle Yasha, Kurama, Yusuke, the rescued wood tribe demons that were enslaved, and a few others to help them along the way. A few of them rode hippogriffs, but others, including the woods demons who were the size of human children almost, were too small for hippogriffs, so they rode on the back of regular horses. They were going to slow everyone down for sure...

The front door of the castle finally opened, with the sound of Kaze bawling in the background. The angel was quick to rush out the door from those staying in the castle: Asa, Kaze, Kuwabara, and Yukina. Hikari came out herself not long after.

The angel returned to her stead first, pulling herself up onto the beast with ease. She was to ride with her husband at the head of the group of them. Takashi saw the angel brush the back of her hand over one of her eyes. She slouched unnaturally on the back of her hippogriff.

Hikari though, being shorter than her mother, struggled to get on top of her hippogriff. Takashi slipped down from his hippogriff and came over beside her. She flinched unexpectedly as he bent down next to her on one knee. He interlaced his fingers and held his hands out together. She understood. She placed her foot into his hand, allowing him to give her the boost up she needed to get back on her hippogriff.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," he told her with a soft smile.

She looked away from him, but he could tell she was blushing slightly. He liked the sight of it.

Not long after, they were off. The angel and Hiei lead the way on their hippogriffs, followed by Izo, Kurama, Uncle Yasha, Yusuke, and then Takashi himself with Hikari next to him. Others in their retinue, including Maiha and the other rescued woods demon tribe members, followed on behind them on their own steads.

The lot of them were on the long trek to the North, to investigate the tribes Ichiro had taken over to see what havoc he had reeked there. From what they had heard from Maiha, things had not be good at all. The wolf demon tribe had teamed up with Ichiro and taken over the other ones.

Takashi felt saddle sore on the ride, even before lunchtime. What did help was having Hikari riding next to him. As he rode next to her, he pondered what her brother had told him. Izo had told him he had a message from the Great Hawk Spirit about him and Hikari. They could either end up together, or just wait long enough for a dark crone to be found to break the accidentally one sided blood bond treaty. He thought about the kiss he gave her right before he was to be taken by Ichiro. He had not thought about it before he did it. He had been caught up in the moment, thinking if he had gone with Ichiro, he was a dead man. He did not want to go to his death without at least being kissed before. What had made that moment better, was when he pulled away from her, she kissed him back. And then fought near to the death to keep him from being taken.

Riding next to her, he thought about how he wanted to do that again. He had been tempted since she had recovered from the wolf bite that nearly killed her. They had not gotten a chance for anything like that since then. They had been busy getting ready for the trip, all of them. He had not gotten a chance to be alone with her, try as he had.

When lunch was called, he was so glad to get a chance to sit down and get off his hippogriff. When lunch was over though, and they were back on their steads along the narrowing road, he was disappointed to see his Uncle Yasha had taken his spot along side Hikari. Takashi grumbled, following at more of a distance now from Hikari, with Yusuke and Kurama between the set of them. He glad he could see her from the distance at least.

That was until the angel halted the convoy and announced to all of them that they were coming up to a narrow and treacherous path over the mountainous terrain for the next two to three hours that would require them to go slowly in pairs. While the hippogriffs could fly, the horses would no be able to, nor were the wood demons willing to fly over it.

Before Takashi could even think to approach Hikari, he heard Uncle Yasha say, "my lady, would you like to take this dangerous pathway together?"

"Ah... sure," Hikari agreed. She hesitated. Even though Takashi felt like pouting, at least she hesitated. He saw her turn her head to glance at him. When his eyes met hers, she looked away in a flash. She moved to quick for him to get a proper read on her face.

Kurama came up along side him. Takashi glanced over at her former tutor who had once rescue him from a certain death. "Care to ride next to each other?" Takashi asked him, trying not to sound too terribly disappointed. It was not his fault Hikari chose Uncle Yasha.

"As you wish," Kurama said with a nod.

He himself cast a glance over at Uncle Yasha and Hikari, quite curious himself. Uncle Yasha and Hikari were in the third set of pairs to start on the path. The angel was directing the pairs one set at a time. She watched Takashi and Kurama head down the rugged trail together, side by side when it was wide enough, one by one when it got too narrow.

Takashi rode along next to Kurama in silence first, but finally he gave in, initiating conversation to tell Kurama what had happened since he had arrived at Alaric. He found himself rambling a bit, but with Kurama listening attentively. He also found himself talking what Kurama might think as far too much about Hikari, but he could not help it.

By the time they reached the end of the rugged trail followed by a swift gallop to catch up to the others in front of them, it was time to make camp for the evening. Takashi noticed Hikari was setting up her and Maiha's tent for the evening. Her short stature was making it difficult for her to get the tent upright. She was almost cute the way she jumped to do it. Takashi smiled to himself at the sight of it.

He stepped off his hippogriff, and hitched it to the nearest tree. He went over to her with a smile, helping her finish setting up her tent in shy silence.

He felt like someone was watching the pair of them. He glanced over his shoulders, seeing Uncle Yasha and Kurama standing close together, talking to quietly for anyone to hear.


	101. Chapter 101

Before Takashi could even think to approach Hikari, he heard Uncle Yasha say, "my lady, would you like to take this dangerous pathway together?"

"Ah... sure," Hikari agreed. She hesitated. Even though Takashi felt like pouting, at least she hesitated. He saw her turn her head to glance at him. When his eyes met hers, she looked away in a flash. She moved to quick for him to get a proper read on her face.

Hikari rode next to the prince in convoy, enjoying it, but feeling shy about it. She liked being next to him, but felt a heaviness settled around the two of them. She knew by now Izo had told him about what the Great Hawk Spirit had said about the two of them. Either get together under the blood bond treaty or what long enough for a black crone to be found to release him. She felt torn between wanting him separated so he could make his own choice just like she was getting, or for him to give into the treaty with her. Yet she worried slightly she might not be able to stomach him in the long run because of the fighting between the two of them that occurred before she had been kidnapped. Before either of them had found out the messages Mother had been hiding for them. It was hard to be around him, yet at the same time it was all she wanted. It twisted her stomach in knots.

After lunch, she assumed they would ride through the narrow passage together they had reached, but surprisingly, Yasha, her parents' friend and the prince's bastard uncle, stepped up over to her, asking her to ride with him through the passage. Hours with Yasha instead of with Takashi. She accepted his offer.

When they lined up to go through two by two, Hikari saw Mother directing the pairs through, telling them how best to reach the end of the path where Father and Uncle Yusuke had gone first. They had to keep distance between each pair over the terrain and watch out for each other. If done safely, there would be less risk.

When Hikari and Yasha reached the front of the line for their turn, Mother's eyes stopped. She frowned at the sight of Yasha. She approached the opposite side of Yasha's stead from Hikari. " Yasha, What are you doing?" she asked, almost short in her tone.

"Riding my way through the difficult terrain with someone I trust, my lady," he answered coyly. "Unless you'd like to accompany me through?"

Hikari craned her neck to see Mother next to Yasha. "Why are you riding with her?"

"She's a good companion to ride with, I'm sure. Didn't Hiei say she was a good fighter? Especially along side the prince? She'll watch over me well and I her."

Mother's eyes narrowed and she huffed. "Mind yourself," she warned. "We discussed this a few nights ago..." she added vaguely.

Hikari looked away from Mother, straight ahead, puzzling over what could have been discussed last night between Mother and Yasha. She wondered if she could get Yasha to tell her what was said as they went down the passage...

The two of them started down the passage, but not before she took the chance to glance back at the pairs of people who would eventually follow after them. She saw the prince had paired up with Kurama. A better choice for him, to keep him safe.

Hikari started down the path with Yasha right next to her. She waited until she was sure Mother was out of ear shot to ask him, "what did my mother say to you a few nights ago?"

"Hmm?" he hummed over at her. "Only your daring escapade with your insane grandfather," he chuckled. "Short hair does suit you," he commented.

Hikari looked over at him, but then back at the path when her hippogriff skittered. She rein her stead in carefully. Her hand came up to her shorter hair now, just below the length of her chin. She had liked it long, even if she had to put it up high everyday away from her fire dragon. Mother had helped her trim up neatly to ring her jawline. "He was nightmarish," she commented, not sure what else to say.

"Your dear Great Uncle Jiro could tell you all about it," Yasha said with too much nonchalance. "Count yourself lucky he's gone. Or don't since apparently he used your name to gain power where we're going and was going to name you his heir."

She frowned in annoyance. "Good thing he's gone," she stated firmly.

Yasha chuckled next to her. "Good thing indeed," he added. "Although, suppose it was a bit a thrill up here. I've heard Alaric is far too boring, not like the capital."

"Oh?" she asked, turning to look at him for a second and then back at the road. She sat up higher as her stead made a jump over a narrow trench that appeared on the path in front of them. She saw Yasha made that jump with just as much ease.

"There's much more fun down South. But not all the way down South, where you're mother grew up. You've been down there?" he asked. She nodded. "In the capital, there's much more fun. Down there you can..."

He started rambling about stuff in the capital, mentioning a few things she was sure her mother would not want her hearing quite so bluntly. "...More fun down South, you see? What all fun things can you in your vast castle, my lady?"

"I..." she started. "I- the hiking, the training with Father, visiting the nearby village, the hot springs in the caves, some of the projects Mother works on in the area with farming and agriculture..."

Yasha scoffed, "teenage dream. Have your father yell at you all day to get stronger and then go shove your hands in the dirt with your mother. Do you even have any fun things to do outside of your family?"

"Um," she started. "I can go to the village and see the others around my age..." she explained, thinking about the few she had spent time with off and on in friendship there. She did not like how he was insinuating how boring her territory was.

"Oh?" Yasha interjected, voice sounding more high pitch and curious. "Anyone in particular who helps you pass the time?"

She frowned at him, not sure what he was getting at. "What do you mean?"

Yasha chuckled, "a young friend, mature enough to run around with? Any boys in particular?"

She felt heat creep up her neck. "Any boys to what? Train with? I- my brother and used to train together with other demon children in the village, but stopped because we were too strong, and Father was a bit too hard on them-"

Yasha was laughing now, which spook his stead, making it stumble. He took a second to calm it down. "Not from your family," he said. She wondered what he was getting at. "You know, keep this comment to yourself, but Kurama is getting older. Being a non-elf and all. If you know anyone around your age to take a dalliance with, well..."

She felt herself blush three shades red. "I would never... I haven't... no," she stuttered out.

"Come on, most have had a dalliance a time or two before they get old and boring. Your mother had two, three if you count your father. Don't bring that up though, one in particular still makes him surly and jealous. Double standard though, considering your father had a handful of dalliances of his own before he met your mother," he rambled out.

"What?" she said, feeling herself grow uncomfortable for this conversation. "Father was in the fighting pits before meeting Mother, too busy trying to survive. Mother was way down South where the belief she was half demon kept others away from her," she insisted.

"Sweetheart," he said softly. "Did you think up those thoughts on your own, or did someone tell you parts, skipping over things you were once to young to know about?"

"You- I-" she huffed. She felt her irritation mounting. "I should ridden along the prince," she ruled. She regretted now the desire to have some space from him.

"Why didn't you?" he asked her.

"You asked first," she answered.

"Lucky me. What else could I ask of you if I ask first?" he wondered.

She tried to spur her stead to go ahead of his, but the ground was rocky and precarious. She could not get it to go much faster.

He still kept up with her. "Not much, I take it," he commented. "Are you like the prince in that? Refusing politely anyone who shows interest? Although, he did that because he knew when he was younger he was engaged to someone. He always assumed it was some foreign princess from another country."

Hikari looked back over at him, feeling drawn back into the conversation. "He is... he did that?"

"Yes. I sent him a, um, birthday present once. He refused her company, but I still had to pay her. The queen was livid when she found out. Threatened to banish me all over again. Loyal to the fiance he had no idea was stuck growing up in the Alaric sticks," he explained.

"How disappointing for him," she said.

"At first it seems, until he nearly traded himself for you to save you from a mad man," he commented. "I've heard say now he's smitten with you. Ever since he heard your mother's message for him."

"It's too late for that message," she rushed out. "Ichiro is gone, and the king and queen will eventually find a dark crone." She tried not to sound disappointed.

"Ah, so you don't like him?" he asked.

"I..." she started, hesitating. Izo's message had just been for her, even if she had it shared with Takashi. "It's not fair..." she confessed.

"What's not fair?" he asked softly.

Silence settled over the two of them. She gnawed at her lip. "I can say no, I always could say no. He can't, at least not yet. He doesn't get a choice."

"So you want to give him one? You don't like him or something? Or you think his behavior is him giving in what he cannot control?" he listed off several questions. "He seems to like you rather a lot, choice or not."

"I..." she was tempted to share Izo's message, but thought better of it. "If he had the genuine choice, would he have chosen me in the beginning? Before I was taken? Before he knew about the blood bond treaty?"

"That was the past, sweetheart. People can change, are challenged to evolve when the need arises. Most don't resist that. Your father took it almost to the extreme. Perhaps the prince has been pushed by the events that happened and wants to chose you, even if the choice isn't much of a choice," he explained.

"I don't know," she mumbled out, wanting to think things over, and not talk about it anymore.

"Kurama was like that," Yasha said. "Still a little like that. Played hard to get with me at first. Took some tricks your mother would disapprove of you knowing to get him to see me in a romantic light. I didn't luck out like you and had a catalyst of the fear of dying never been kissed to catch him."

"I... I don't know..." she said.

"Perhaps if-" he started.

She shook her head. "Can we just- can we just ride on? In silence?" she requested.

"Oh course, my lady," he answered charmingly.

She enjoyed but did not enjoy the silence. By the time they reached the night's camp where Father and Uncle Yusuke had been waiting for pairs to show up. She took her time in silence to groom her hippogriff after the long ride before turning to set up the tent she would share with Maiha, trying not to think who else she could share the tent with.

She jumped, trying to get the tent up to its proper height when none other than the prince showed up next to her, assisting her. Just being next to him made her breathless. Perhaps if he did not want the freedom to chose after all, even though she felt he deserved it.

"Thank you," she told him. Shyly, she added, "I need to finished setting up inside the tent." She slipped into the tent she shared with Maiha, without another word, half hoping he would follow her.

She was down at the other end of the tent, setting to unpack her bag. She smiled to herself when she heard him slip into the tent behind her. She turned around, giving him a shy look. It was almost comical to see him be too tall for her tent and have to slouch. She rose back up, glad to see she could, barely, stand up in her tent.

She stepped over to him, toe to toe, asking softly, "don't you have your own tent to set up?" She recalled Takashi shared a tent with Izo.

"Uh... um..." he stuttered. He looked nervous, which she liked. "I will... yes... soon..." He could have left at that, should have left at that, but he stayed rooted in front of her.

She thought about what she and Yasha talked about on the ride earlier, and was feeling tempted. She stepped as close as she could to him, raising up on her tip toes to kiss him. He gasped, caught off guard. She wrapped her arms around his neck, easier with him slouched over in the tent. He smelled musty, with a hint of hippogriff on his clothes, but she found she liked the smell on him.

She half guided, half pulled him down onto her sleeping bag with her. It made her too nervous to have him lay down on top of her, so she rolled so she could be on top of him. She leaned against his side, with her upper body on top of him and lower body snaked up next to him. She kept up kissing him, feeling almost shaky with adrenaline and excitement.

She could feel her breathing getting heavier, his as well. She felt a thrill in her chest when his hand came into her hair, finger entwined in it. She hoped the moment would never end.

Then she paused, hearing someone, no, Uncle Yusuke's voice calling out in search of the prince. Takashi was quick to extract himself from her, sitting up.

"Why does he want you?" she asked, feeling grumpy eking into her voice.

"I... um..." he flustered out. He leaned over to her, kissing to briefly. "I think I forgot..." he rambled.

"Forgot what?" she asked breathlessly.

"To brush down my hippogriff..." he admitted.

She felt her temper spike. She punched him in the arm. "You can't not do that," she scolded, feeling empathetic for the stead left untended. "I'll help you with it," she decided, rolling onto her feet.

She left the tent, glad at least to hear him up and moving behind her. She left her tent first, with him not far behind her. She halted, with him running into her when she saw Yasha standing nearby, giving her the most curious look.

"He was... was helping me set up my tent," she vocalized.

"More like you were helping pitch his tent," Yasha teased.

"What?" she asked, completely unsure what he was insinuating.

"Nothing," Yasha said, shaking his head. "Don't tell your mother what I said."

She frowned at him, deciding to not push it. She reached back and took Takashi's hand. "Come on," she said, tugging him along with her.


	102. Chapter 102

Prince Takashi scoffed inside the overgrown meeting tent the nomadic tribes up North held for their meeting place. The large, but airy and frigid room was the only room large enough for Prince Takashi, Hikari and her family, and the lot who came with them to meet with representatives of the tribes that had survived Ichiro's take over and later the wolf tribes' take over. At least the tribes' representatives were willing to meet with them now that when they had arrived, but only after they took out the remaining wolf tribesmen. The other tribes were more willing to meet once freed from their oppressors, even if the lot of them were weary unfairly of Hikari.

The lot of them sat in a circle with a blazing fire in the middle. Takashi wished he could sit closer to it, even though he was given a seat of privilege near the leader of the tribes' council leader, Maeshu. She was older, mangy looking, a wild look to her. She was intimidating though, with a scar across her cheek that showed she was not one to be messed with. She had not been a fan of Hikari, what with how Ichiro bragged about her being his heir and on his side, but her mother was quick to help quell those rumors.

Next to Takashi sat Hikari, along with her family. Everyone else from their group were in the back, likely colder than he was. Hikari was at least warm to sit next. She blazed her heat up for him to help keep him warm. Her father was doing the same thing for her mother. A human-angel hybrid was certainly not made for cold weather, especially one who grew up in the balmy South. The only one who seemed comfortable sitting up in the cold like this was Izo, ice demon dominant in him.

Takashi groaned quietly to himself, ready to fall asleep if this dragged on meeting. Izo had even dozed off for a few minutes in the meeting, with his father discreetly pinching him to wake him up. The representatives had seen them rescue them from the wolf tribe, had heard what happened with Ichiro, and had learned the real truth of Hikari. Still they debated, under the leadership of Maeshu, the leader of the water tribe, as to what to do next. Accept the fact they were still under the Alaric territory and Hikari's leadership in turn, even though Hikari leaving them to their devices for years was what allowed Ichiro a chance to have a foothold in the region in the first place. That and the Hayato kingodm's rule which allowed the same. Or to flush out their lot and turn away from the territory and the kingdom's leadership and use what happened to them as a reason to declare their own independence.

Maeshu was continuing to drone on, "... few of us left remember what it was like under Lord Mukuro. Left to be independent, just like her ladyship's mother promised us, but not ignored. Lord Mukuro did not ignore us for years. Did not just leave us to our own devices. Someone from his inner circle stayed with us as his representative. That was taken away with an infant took over Alaric. Replaced with a few measly visits from a child a few times in her lifetime."

Hikari next to Takashi squirmed. "You hadn't wanted that," she blurted out. Maeshu looked down at her, clearly annoyed to hear her speaking. Hikari rose up, even though her mother, the angel, reached over to pull her back down. "When I was here last, what six years ago, my mother offered you that, and you turned it down, correct me if I am wrong."

Maeshu spoke, "your mother offered to ask the king on our behalf for an elf warrior from the capital. Elves are unsuitable for the climate up here, too frigid for their delicate demeanor compared to demons like us. Even now the elvish prince next to you shivers when it is so warm in here. She claimed she knew no demons strong enough to send us, even though her husband was suitable enough."

Hikari huffed, "when we return to the Alaric Castle, you can accompany us. Select any demon who is willing from there come back here with you as my representative." She sat down, looking down respectfully. Takashi could see her hands were shaking slightly after she placed them in her lap.

"We shall see, my lady," Maeshu responded, tone a bit contemptible. Maeshu looked over the meeting tent. "You do keep interesting company, what with part demons, elves, and humans in your midst," she commented. "The council now will need to vote, which means anyone without voting rights in the council and outsiders must leave the tent."

"As you wish," Hikari said respectfully.

Takashi rose up in time with Hikari first, both of them leading the way out of the tent first. Once outside, Takashi groaned. It was even colder outside, if that was even possible. When they were some distance from the meeting tent, not even caring who saw him, Takashi stepped up behind Hikari and wrapped his arms around her, grateful to be near her warmth. She did not even mind him doing so openly in front of the others. The angel shivered nearby, her even more susceptible to the cold than he was. Hiei stepped in front of her, allowing her the chance to wrap her arms around him. The other humans nearby shivered slightly as well. Uncle Yasha also shivered, not afraid to stand in the arms of Kurama, even though Kurama was hardly a fire demon able to warm him up much. Being a demon-human hybrid made him more resistant to the cold.

"Dude, how much longer do we have to wait outside?" Yusuke asked, shivering himself. "It's not like it's your guys' fault some crazy, power tripping asshole subjugated them when you weren't looking."

"Give them time," the angel said, her breath coming out in puffs. "We should have found a demon better suited for them..." she mumbled. "They said only Hiei would do though..."

"Hn," Hiei grunted. "If they had bothered to ask me personally, I would have refused."

Izo looked over at the meeting tent. Takashi's eyes followed, wishing he could be as comfortable in the cold. "They might still ask it again," he said.

"The answer would be the same," Hiei commented.

"One way or another, we'll find a solution," the angel said hopefully.

Hiei's head popped up, gaze turning in a far off direction. "Whose that?" he asked, tensing up.

Takashi turned and looked the direction Hiei was. So did everyone else. There was a figure clad in so many layers of clothes and fur it was almost comical to watch them run. Once he was close enough, Takashi recognized. "That's one of my father's servants!" he exclaimed.


	103. Chapter 103

The sight of one of the king's servants running towards them was like a punch into Hikari's chest. That had to mean the king and queen were back in country. They were back and might have a dark crone with them. Takashi took off running towards the servant, ecstatic to see him. Hikari watched with the others just how excited the prince was to find out his parents were back in country, at the nearest port only a few miles away. That and they had found a black crone aboard. Takashi took off running with the servant in the direction of the port. Hikari felt a cold kind of sickness creeping into her stomach.

"This bad timing," Yasha commented, to no one in particular.

"You guys can go on ahead," Uncle Yusuke offered to Hikari and her family. "The king and queen probably want to see you all as well. We can tell scar face where you went when they're done."

"Oh, thank you. Hopefully she doesn't take offense to that," Mother said, looking relieved. "We best get a move on then," she said.

"I'm staying," Brother rushed out. Hikari looked over at him, confused. "You can go on ahead. I'm sure the rest of us will catch up with you later."

"Oh," Mother slipped out. "If you're sure," she added.

"We'll go with you," Yasha ruled for him and Kurama.

Yasha and Kurama took off in at a run first in the same direction the prince and servant had. Mother and Father did the same. Hikari trudged her feet after them. She looked back at the meeting tent and those outside, before speeding herself up to catch up to the others.


	104. Chapter 104

Hikari made it to port with the others, Father, Mother, Yasha, Kurama, and Takashi, if you could call it a port. The nomadic demon tribes kept a port, but the buildings around it were old and half dilapidated looking. They only visited the area in and around the main meeting tent they had been in once a year. Otherwise they roamed in their tribes over the icy tundra up here.

The king and the queen were there, looking half frozen and so out of place with their own guard and retinue from their ship anchored far off shore as it was too big to land in the one dock port they were at. Hikari went with the others to meet with the king and queen and the foreigner they brought with them: a dark crone.

Hikari studied the dark crone, who looked like a miniature, sweet old lady. The sense off her though was borderline malicious. It made her ears draw back in tension. Part of her wished she had never laid eyes on the woman.

They were all gathered around an odd table, the dark crone sitting next to the queen while the king stood looming behind them. Hikari did notice the queen's chair was as far away from the dark crone as it could be. Across the table, Hikari sat between Mother and the prince with Father behind them, close to the door. Uncles Yasha and Kurama stood closer behind them. That wretched blood bond treaty signed by their fathers sat on the table, in front of the dark crone. She bent over, hand tracing over the blood signatures. Hikari wished the woman would just break it already and be done with it. She wanted desperately to grabbed Takashi's hand, but she dared not to.

"It can be broken with my magic, easily," the dark crone said, her accent making it slightly difficult to understand her. "At a cost." Her eyes flitted up across the table, locking on Mother. "The cost I want."

"No, Kyandoru," the king said firmly, addressing the dark crone by her name. "You offered the chance to settle permanently in this country in the Alaric Territory. That is your payment."

Kyandoru kept her eyes trained on Mother. "And now I am here. And now I am renegotiating. Original price. I had to abandon a lot of my stores when I came with you. More than I anticipated. If I am to settle here, I need to replenish anew. I won't kill her."

Hikari felt herself stiffen, the tension in the room, especially behind her spiking. "You promised her Nanashi?" Father growled, stepping up behind Mother protectively.

"No," the queen rushed out. "She asked that of us, to have access to the angel to harvest living for a few days, but we refused and offered to settle her down in Alaric instead."

Hikari felt her stomach drop. Harvest. Father had been given to a dark crone once to be harvested as payment for something before. It nearly killed him afterwards. Mother had told her and Izo about it, but warned them never to ask Father about it.

Hikari felt Takashi stir next to her, agitated. He exchanged a glance with his mother, the queen, who shook her head. He whined under his breath.

"Angels are so rare, and hard to catch in this realm," Kyandoru explained in an eerily calm voice. "Fortune favors a dark crone who access to one. A half one might be almost as potent, but one never knows as an angel never sired a child with a human before this one." She flicked her eyes up at Father. "You've been harvested before. You survived it. I can assure she will, too."

Hikari looked up at Father. He was ghostly pale, crimson eyes blazing. He looked down at the dark crone unblinking. The dark crone stared at him in turn, not blinking.

"You get what you wanted," Kyandoru continued. "What you all originally wanted. What your daughter still wants."

Hikari sat up straighter in her chair, wondering how the little old lady in front of her could know that. She shook her head, unsure what to say. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Takashi turned to her, "you can't still want that." He looked wounded.

Father's hands gripped the back of Mother's chair firmly. Mother leaned back against her chair, trying to get closer to him as she was frightened as well. "Ask her the question you've been wanting to, you fool," Father ordered Takashi.

"Now?" Takashi said, suddenly looking quite nervous. "I... here? I haven't even asked you-"

"You have my permission," he grumbled out. Father looked desperate, boring down at Takashi, who looked bewildered.

Hikari heard Uncle Yasha snort and suppress a laugh behind her. "Desperate times..." he muttered.

Takashi shook his head. "I... I... I can't. I don't know..."

Kyandoru spoke up, "you don't know what her answer will be." The way she spoke made the hairs on the back of Hikari's neck stand up.

"Don't mess with his head," Father hissed at the dark crone.

She laughed at him. "If you offer to take your wife's place I will deny you. Nor will I let you watch. You will spend those days and nights not knowing what I am doing. Or maybe you will, if your brave enough to use remote viewing into her mind, but then it will be like you're experience it with her. Experiencing it all over again, just like your nightmares."

Father snarled, hands gripping the back of Mother's chair so hard the wood cracked. Mother brought her hands up to cover her mouth.

"You won't kill me?" Mother asked, her voice cracking. The dark crone shook her head.

"Nishi," Father's voice warned.

Mother did not look back at him, but rather at the dark crone. "One day."

"Three," Kyandoru countered.

"Two," Mother countered.

"Done," the dark crone smiled.

Mother looked sickly, a cold sweat visible on her face. "Cancel out the blood bond treaty first."

"Your husband will kill me if I do that first. Although he looks ready to kill me anyway," Kyandoru commented. "Yet with me under the king's protection, could cause some turmoil after that. If, big if, he succeeded." She laughed again. "I may just have to bind my life to hers to be on the safe side."

More sounds of wood cracking. "It's fine," Mother lied. "Just... just let me make something right for once," she stated.

Father looked back at Takashi. "Why are you just sitting there?"

"I haven't..." Takashi started.

Father kept pressuring him, saying, "ruin this deal."

Takashi cleared his throat. He turned to look at Hikari. Hikari frowned at him, puzzled when he grabbed her hand. "Marry me?" he dead panned.

"What...?" she said, not sure if she understood what he was asking. She heard Uncle Yasha snickering in the background.

"Marry me," he said clearly. He slipped out of his chair next to her, bending down on one knee. "Please."

Hikari stared at him in disbelief. She fidgeted in her chair. "But you don't have a choice..." she pointed out.

"The blood bond treaty still exists," the dark crone stated. Hikari looked at her and the paper sitting in front of her. "Still binds him to you or no one. He has no choice."

She yanked her hand away from his, wrapping her arms around her middle. "I can't," she choked.

Takashi rocked back onto both of his knees, looking down at the ground like a forlorn puppy.

"Hikari," Father hissed out her name now.

She looked back up at him. She could not remember him ever looking so disappointed and furious at her. "I can't..." she tried to explain. She placed her hands down on the table, shoving her chair as far as she could. She turned and ran out the door.

She heard someone follow after her as she ran towards the port, not too sure where she was going exactly beyond away from there. She went into the boat storage room by the water. It was freezing in there, but she did not mind that. She shoved the door behind her, but Takashi was behind her, too fast. He caught the door before it could close on him. He looked red and chilled, shivering. She warmed up the room for him, almost on instinct.

"Why did you follow me?" she grumbled out at him. She wanted to be alone in the moment, more than anything.

"Last time you ran off, I thought I lost you," he answered longingly. "Why be surprised I ran after you?" He was flustered, speaking too loudly, he added, "you can't expect me to give you up so easily again."

She blinked up at him, but kept her distance between the two of them. "Last time I disappeared, you didn't have much cared," she grumbled out. "You hated me back then."

He looked up at her, blinking in surprise. "We fought often, but..." he grumbled out. "Not anymore," he confessed. He stepped forward, but she held her hand up to indicate to him to keep his distance.

"It's not fair to you," she shared. "It was only when you found out about my mother's message from the Great Hawk Spirit that we should have wed when you showed up in Alaric. You don't have a choice. You gave in without getting a choice, which you wanted from the moment you found out about the blood bond treaty. All because of a message from my mother."

"What?" he asked, looking at her perplexingly. He looked so wounded, as well as confused. She hated that she made him feel that way.

"Someone just says you have to marry me, and you decided to just go for it. You have no choice and you just gave in," she inferred. "I can't let you do that."

He looked at her, mouthing moving with no sound coming out. "The message isn't why," he said. "How could you even think that?" he seethed.

"Then what was it then?" she asked impatiently. "What made your choice invalid when that's all you wanted several weeks ago?"

"When you were kidnapped," he confessed. He took a few hesitant steps towards her, she tightened up, but did not move. "I felt awful to find out I chased you away. Helping your family hunt the forest and caves for you. Watching them each in turn dealing with the idea of they might not find you again. Especially your father. That made me realize how awful it would be for me to never see you again. I couldn't stand the idea of it. I prayed to every god, goddess, spirit from another realm that I know of that if you just came back to me, I would give up anything. I guess I gave up hating you and took on loving you instead. The blood bond treaty and your mother's message never crossed my mind in that realization."

She brought her hands up to her face, running them through her hair. "You can have a choice though. You won't be stuck with me. It's not fair to you."

He looked overly flustered. "I don't want that!" he shouted. She blinked up at him, surprised by his outburst. "Not anymore," he pulled back on his volume, but still looked temperamental. "I give it up, alright. I don't want it. I don't want a reason to give you up. Especially now that there's a dark crone eyeing your mother for harvesting when her being here is no longer necessary."

"You are an absolute fool, just like my father said," she choked out. She walked over to him with a purpose. She punched him halfheartedly on his chest with both fist. She looked up at him, with teary, blue eyes. She hated the sight of him like that.

He wrapped his arms around her. "If you want, I can tell you your future, at least the track you're on now," he told. He spoke over her head. She feel his breath over over her hair.

She looked up at him best she could. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I thought no one could do that?"

"I can," he whispered down at her. "Only once, on the course you're currently on. I saw your mother's future once.

"What did you see for her?" she asked curiously.

He smiled down at her. "Ask her to share it with you. Would you like to see yours?"

She looked at him, eyes narrowing. "Show me," she asked, wanting to know what he might see, curiosity peeked.

He let his arms go around her and took off his gloves from his hands. He brought them up to his face and blew into them as they were chilled. He reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling off one of her gloves. She noticed it was colder, but it hardly affected her. He took her hand and wrapped his hands around it. He closed his eyes and held his breath. Then he let her hand go and opened his eyes, just like that. He smiled at her bitter sweetly.

"What did you see?" She asked.

"Give me your answer, and I'll give you mine," he answered.

She pouted at him. "No. You give me your answer and I'll give you mine," she insisted.

He sighed. He bent down and whispered the answer in her ear. He straightened up. "That's only the future your on track for. If you go another direction, it may change. So where's my answer?" he asked longingly.

"Yes then," she responded. She grabbed his collar, pulling him down, and kissed him.


	105. Chapter 105

Izo stood outside of the meeting with his 'uncle,' Yusuke. Technically, not an uncle, but Mother's first cousin. Uncle was the termed used anyway, even if it was inaccurate in a way.

Yusuke, dressed like Mother had been, in a parka among his other thick layers, rubbed his thick gloved hands over his upper arms. "How do these people survive the cold without proper homes all year round?" he chattered out.

Izo made no comment, standing comfortably in the cold in a light jacket and no gloves. It was slightly cold to him, but that might just be his non-demon sides showing. He did notice elves more than humans like his 'uncle' and Mother handled the cold a bit better. The prince more seemed like a wimp about it than anything else. Izo's grandfather must have been one hardy elf to not only live up here for years, but take over up here.

Yusuke looked him over, kicking away at stones by his feet in his antsiness. "How old are you now?" he asked curiously.

"Sixteen," Izo answered.

"Down South where I grew up, you'd be considered an adult in a year," Yusuke commented. "But at your height, probably mistaken for it. Taller than your mom, jeez and built like a runner."

"Hn," Izo grunted, keeping himself still. Trying not to be annoyed with how much his 'uncle' was moving about. Now he was picking at a stray thread on his glove, making it unravel rather than leaving it alone.

"As chatty as your dad," Yusuke grumbled. "So what do you think will happen with your sister and the prince? He sure trails after her like a lost puppy."

"They'll figure it out," Izo commented. He missed the silence as it would give him time to puzzle over what the message the Great Hawk Spirit sent him in the tent a little while ago...

"Wow, a full sentence out of you," Yusuke joked. "I can't wait to get out of this frozen h- world. Crazy to imagine Yukina growing up here. Can't blame her for leaving. Did you know she comes from the warrioress ice maiden that live on a floating island of ice somewhere in the sky even further north from here? It's got to balmy down here compared to that. She's not much of a fighter though, a soft hearted healer more so. Kuwabara has said she can fight when pressed, like she did when that creepy dude tried to kill your dad in their apartment years ago."

Izo breathed a stealthy sigh of relief when the tent flap opened up. Maeshu had sent another demon, a tall ice demon man with teal bangs and light blue hair out to them to call them back into the tent. Izo went in without hesitating, with his 'uncle' following him in there like an after thought.

Izo stepped forwarded, acting in Sister's place. "Volunteer..." He stood before Maeshu and the rest of the leaders around her.

"Where is your family and the prince?" Maeshu asked him point blank.

"The king and queen are likely up here. We spotted one of their servants and the rest of them, bar Yusuke and I, went with him," Izo explained.

"We were hoping to speak with your sister," Maeshu replied. "And your father."

Izo kept his face blank, although he would have preferred to scowl. He could guess what they would be asking after pretty quickly. "I can speak for them," he answered confidently.

"Right," Maeshu said. "We've decided since your sister and parents have done what they can to right the wrongs done by your grandfather, that we would accept her leadership as is, but with a representative of our choosing. We want your father to stay up here with us. With her being represented up here, it guarantees she will never be so long in helping us again."

Izo barked a short laugh. "That's all?" he asked, smirking.

Maeshu looked serious. "You think this is a joke, boy?"

Izo shook his head. "Your request is impossible. Father will turn your down. He'll refuse to separate from Mother, and Mother would struggle to survive up here. Besides..." he paused.

"Besides what?" Maeshu asked.

"Besides, he's old," Izo finished.

"Dude, kid," Yusuke said from behind him. "Have a little respect."

Izo looked behind him quickly at his 'uncle,' hoping to silence him. Izo turned back to Maeshu and the others. "He's old. Older by years after you last asked for him to represent up here with you. He's gotten slower, weaker, and less wary. Mother is his weakness. You cannot expect to separate them. She would stay up here with him. He would be distracted often by her. Angels handle the cold with trouble, more than humans do. You'll need to chose someone else. Someone younger, stronger, and more independent."

"Who, boy?" Maeshu pressed.

"Me," Izo answered.

"No, kid," Yusuke said behind him. "Your mom would never allow it."

Izo kept speaking, ignoring the interruption. "I'm younger, I'm stronger. I have no wife nor children. I was trained by my father how to fight. I was trained by an elf healer named Asa how to heal. I am Hikari's twin brother, which means you'll still hold sway with her if I represent her. I know how she thinks, how she will act, and what she would want done. I'm your best choice."

A hush went over the room. "You seem confident, boy," Maeshu commented.

"I'm no boy, I tower over my father even," Izo added.

"No way, this isn't happening," Yusuke said behind him. Yusuke stepped up, standing along side Izo. "I'm older than Izo, but younger than Hiei. I've been in more fights, and with some serious badies, than inches this kid has on him. Guys who would have destroyed the world if I had not stood in their way. Chose me instead."

Izo turned, scowling at Yusuke. "What are you doing?"

"Your mother would be pissed if I let you do this," Yusuke responded.

"Your sister needs only one person to represent her, not two," Maeshu commented.

"Yeah, obviously, so chose me, duh," Yusuke urged.

Izo gritted his teeth. "I can handle the cold better than he can, better than my mother can. I was trained how to fight properly rather than learning it in the streets. Besides, he's got a human wife and kid in the capital."

"Hey, your mom learned how to fight in the streets right next to me, even if she sucked at it," Yusuke countered. "Besides, I could still take you with all your daddy's training. Keiko would figure it out anyway."

"Fine," Izo agreed. "We'll fight for it. Winner get to represent my sister in the far North."

"Outside then, you little punk," Yusuke teased, looking more thrilled than anything else in the moment.

Izo strode past his 'uncle,' being the first one out of the tent. Yusuke followed him, as well as the other leaders from the tribes. Izo was glad to see them all. He strode further away from the meeting tent, into an expansive area of flat ground covered with snow. It would do. He turned around and stopped, standing still. He let his arms hand limply at his side, seeing Yusuke study him before he took on his own fighting stance. The tribal leaders surrounded them in a loose, horseshoe formation. Maeshu in the middle, with the ice demon man next to her.

Izo summoned up his ice dragon around his neck, allowing it to dangle around down to his lower arms. He showed off his angelically inherited weapon. He used it to plummet the temperature of the area around them all, striving to drop it lower and lower and lower. He kept his face blank when he would have rather smirked. His 'uncle' could not take that. He wrapped his arms around himself, shivering and puffing out frosty breath. The fight was over before it even began.

Izo retracted the cold at his beck and call. "I don't even have to put a hand on him to win," he stated, looking over at Maeshu.

"Exposing and taking advantage of a weakness is not a victory," Maeshu commented.

Izo grunted, "hn, fine." He watched his 'uncle,' waiting impatiently for him to warm back up.

"Well, that's a dirty trick," Yusuke spat. "Why don't you put that pet dragon away and use your fists," he challenged. "Only your fists."

Izo summoned away the ice dragon, wishing he could show off his potential with it. Perhaps another time... He charged forward, hurling a right hook at his 'uncle.' He nearly managed to catch his uncle in the jaw, but last second, Yusuke blocked him, bringing his own fist into Izo's gut. Izo backed up, trying to catch his breath. He assessed that he would need to move faster to win.

He charged again, throwing fists as quickly as he could, all while blocking fists thrown at him. He prioritized offense instead of defense, even if it seemed to become counterproductive. He charged again and again, trying to overwhelm his 'uncle.' It kept not working. He took a risk. The next charge he made, he used to tackle his 'uncle' to the ground. He tumbled to the ground with him, trying to get himself on top of him.

Unfortunately, his 'uncle' managed to get the upper hand, maneuvering his way into putting Izo in a headlock with both of them in a kneeling position. "Say 'uncle,' and I'll let you go," Yusuke puffed out.

Izo tried to stand, to throw him off, but to no avail. He gritted his teeth. Maeshu was watching. The other tribal leaders were watching. 'Volunteer...' That was what the Great Hawk Spirit had told him to do in his cat nap in the tent earlier. He needed to get up and he needed to win. He needed to-

"What's going on here?" a gruff, deep, and booming voice cut through the area. Izo looked up involuntarily. Yusuke looked up as well, loosening his grip on Izo slightly. It would have been easier to escape this hold, but would be unfair due to the distraction if he did. Izo saw the king, queen, prince, Sister, Father, Mother, and his other 'uncles' coming up to them. "Why are these two fighting?" the king demanded.

"Yusuke, get off of him right now," Mother demanded, stepping into the forefront of the newly arrived group.

"Yeah, you're not going to want me to do that," Yusuke commented.

"Why are they fighting?" the king asked again.

"Because this dumb ass punk decided to volunteer in his dad's place to be his sister's representative up here. So did I. So now we're fighting to see who gets it," Yusuke explained.

The others reacted, but Izo honed in on Mother's reaction. She looked distraught. He did not have to look over at Maeshu to know she had seen it, too. "Let them finish," Maeshu said.

Izo felt Yusuke tighten his grip on him again. "Just give in kid," he cautioned.

Izo felt the temptation to pull out his ice dragon to win, but resisted. He had to win, and with his own fist. He brought his hands up to Yusuke's hand around his neck, trying to loosen his grip. At the same time, he braced himself on his own kneeling legs. He twisted his upper body towards Yusuke, throwing him off balance. Izo pitched himself towards him all while yanking at the arm wrapped around him. It was enough to throw him off. Izo shoved him down to the ground, pulling away and rising up. His 'uncle' laid on the ground, looking gruff. Izo felt confident he had just won.

Then his 'uncle' kicked him hard in the side of his knee, taking him off balance. Izo went down, his knees smarting. His vision redden, he could not lose, would not loose. He grappled with his 'uncle,' tackling him to the ground.

Izo had Yusuke pinned, finally. He had him on his back, on top of him, making sure he was firmly grounded on his knees and lower legs. Izo felt a cold rage come over him, calling on him to punch his face until he was exhausted. He threw a few and then pulled himself back, not allowing himself to do it anymore when he heard Mother gasp in shock.

"Uncle?" Izo asked, half breathless.

He pulled his hands away from Yusuke, and looked at the blood splattered over them. He calmer, and sobered up all of a sudden. He looked over at the others, noticing only Mother in the moment. Her hands were in front of her mouth and she was paler.

"Maybe I'm too old for this," Yusuke groaned, turning his head to the side, and spitting out some blood. He tapped the ground twice.

Izo blinked, looking down at his 'uncle.' His face was bloodied, more than Izo had meant to do. The sight of it made Izo feel suddenly sick that he did that. He bent down, healing him immediately.

Next, he rolled up and off of his 'uncle,' and onto his feet. He reached down and pulled his 'uncle' up onto his feet as well.

His 'uncle' gave him a hardy punch in the shoulder. "If it wasn't so cold up here, I'd have kicked your ass," he said.


	106. Chapter 106

Once the craziness of the day faded into night finally lulled, Izo could not sleep. He was exhausted from his fight with Yusuke, but every time he closed his eyes in his tent, he saw his 'uncle's' face, worse and more bloodied than it had been in real life. He did that... He wanted to do it, and even more than he had... It scared him that he wanted to that. If that did not invade his thoughts, than it was the image of Mother looking shocked at his actions. He had not been able to help it...

He turned over in his sleeping bag, sitting up. He looked over at Prince Takashi, who slept in his own sleeping bag. He snored oblivious to everything, smiling in his sleep. Izo felt jealous of his contentment, his engagement to Sister.

He thought over what happened over his fight with his uncle. How he wanted to run to Mother in panic over what he did to his uncle. He held himself back from that, especially right after Maeshu declared him an acceptable representative for Sister up North.

How Sister shared her sudden, but engagement to the prince. The king and queen arriving. The chilling looking dark crone with them that gave him the creeps. Father kept his distance from her, hovering around Mother protectively. It was an exhausting day with too much going on. So now he had no shot at sleeping.

'Come here,' he heard Father's voice in his head, followed by a flash of an area near his tent in his mind.

Izo kicked his way out of his sleeping bag, leaving the tent, not forgetting to zip it up for the prince not to get too cold. The tent was too hot for Izo, but the prince had commented it was chilly in there before he went to sleep.

Izo wandered out, walking silently around the camp, which now included the king and queen's glamping tent that more resembled a yurt. Near by their's was the dark crone's tent. Izo gave that one a wider berth, hardly able to imagine why the hairs on the back of his neck stood up being near her.

As he passed around the back of the dark crone tent, he glanced over out at the copse of trees nearby. That was where Father showed him to go.

"Hn," he heard a familiar voice grunt in the tree. Out of a pine tree, jumped Father. "Took you long enough," he commented.

Izo's eyes were trained on the dark crone's tent. "What's stopping you from killing her?" he deadpanned.

"She convinced Nanashi to put her under her protection," Father growled out. "She'll be honor bound to protect or avenge her."

"Maybe she'll freeze to death," Izo commented, agreeing with Father's sentiment. They idea that she wanted to harvest Mother left a bad taste in his mouth. He summoned up his ice dragon subconsciously. The dark crone might not be used to the cold...

"Put that away, you use it too often," Father instructed. Izo clicked his teeth, summoning away his ice dragon. "You'll still be up here when we leave, since you felt the need to insist on that. Keep your distance from her. She knows you're quarter angelic and will be interested in you."

Izo crossed his arms over his chest. "Would you have preferred to stay up here? Mother wouldn't thrive. Kaze might not either. He's too angelic. Time was of the essence, so I volunteered."

"Why?" Father pressed.

Izo kept his mouth tight lipped. If he shared about his dream telling him to volunteer, he would have to reveal everything else about the Great Hawk Spirit. "I couldn't think of anyone else in the heat of the moment who they would accept."

"Well, you got what wanted. You made sure of that," Father added, a bit tensely. "What happened in your fight with Yusuke? You lost control in the end."

Izo shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "I... I wanted to win. I'm better suited to stay up here that he is."

"Your eyes turned black when you punched him repeatedly in the face. The blackness disappeared when you looked up over at Nanashi," Hiei revealed.

Izo paled. That was the moment he knew he had lost control, the moment that kept him from sleeping earlier in that night. He did not voice that though.

Father continued. "Your sister is demon through and through, that's for certain. Your brother certainly has angelic traits showing, but you're different. I thought at first it was a mix of elvish and demonic with a dash of human, but now it seems like angelic has already been hiding under the surface. this whole time."

"What does it matter?" Izo asked, worried Father would get at his dreams.

"It matter if you are up here and risk falling," Father warned him.

"Falling?" Izo asked, standing steady on his two feet.

"A fallen angel. There haven't been any for centuries as few angels like your grandfather stay in the mortal world after being sent here by the Great Hawk Spirit," Father explained. "And he didn't have a choice in the matter. He never fell, but your mother almost did once when she was possessed by an evil spirit. Angels who sin too often become evil and go on murderous rampages against those whom they perversely see as sinners. They had to be killed, which was the only way to stop them." Izo kept silent, not sure how to respond. "A sign of falling is blackening eyes. You'll be up here, around demons who are going to judge you by how strong you are. You can't be weak up here, demons value strength. When you say goodbye to us tomorrow, especially your mother, you need to be careful about how you go about it. Stay strong about it, since the leaders of the demon tribes will be watching you."

Izo clicked his teeth. "Perhaps better to do it in private then..." he commented.

"Worry more worried about the fallen angel risk. You'll be around demons, which might contribute to it. Natural enemies," Father warned. "Have you noticed anything else angelic coming out in you?" Izo froze up, not sure how to answer that. Father picked up on it right away. "What else have you noticed?" he pressed.

"You can tell Mother, it'll upset her," Izo preempted. Father's eyes widened at that sentence. "Mother is no longer a messenger for the Great Hawk Spirit because she can't be trusted to share messages. Yet she still needs a messenger, so I've been called to take on that role..." he admitted.

"You've had messages from her?" Father asked in surprised.

"One for Hikari, that I shared with her. Others for me to stay behind in the cave fight and to volunteer..." he rushed out.

Father stared at him, surprised by what he heard. "Keep that to yourself," Father agreed. "And keep yourself from falling," he insisted.

"That I can do," Izo said adamantly.


	107. Chapter 107

Hikari hated Izo. Hated that without her knowledge he convinced the demons to have him stay up in the far North, even if it was in Father's place. He could have at least had the decency to warn her before abandoning her like this... When she said good bye to him a few minutes prior, it felt like he felt nothing.

She watched him stand there all stoically and emotionless at the outskirts of the camp surrounded by the others, like he did not even care he was staying behind. Mother was the last to say goodbye to him, trying and failing not to cry. Hikari was too angry with him to cry, staring up at his cocky face dry eyed. Father looked like he just wanted to get the moment over with.

Mother had her arms wrapped around Izo, who stood there, barely hugging her back. The sight was unbelievable. "You write..." Mother choked out. She cleared her throat forcefully. "You write, weekly," she insisted.

Izo stole a side glance at Maeshu, who was watching the two of them without blinking. "I will do my best. If that's as you wish," he promised calmly. Mother was crying before him, and he did not even care. Hikari wondered what was wrong with him.

Mother shivered, letting him go. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her gloves. "You let him," she insisted over at Maeshu. "You let him, that way we'll know if anything else happens right away."

"That will be his decision to make," Maeshu responded. "Sometimes paper is a difficult thing to come by up here, especially when we break camp and begin to roam next month."

Mother turned back to Izo, wrapping her arms around him once more. "I love you," she said so gently. She reached up, brushing his bangs away from his eyes with an equally gentle hand. Her hand rest by his right. "Be careful of..." she hummed. "Fight it... think of something that brings you joy. Cling to that," she advised vaguely. Hikari puzzled at what Mother meant. She made a mental note to ask her later.

"Won't be thinking of Mother," Hikari murmured crossly under her breath. She pursed her lips when she saw Father give her a silencing look.

"What was that, my love?" Takashi asked next to her.

"Nothing," she sighed.

Mother hugged him one more time, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the forehead the way she used to when the two of them were children; the way she would with Kaze as well. She grimaced at the thought of Kaze, being abandoned in turn.

King Hayate behind her cleared his throat. "We really need to get moving, my angel," he called over to Mother gently, yet authoritatively.

Mother pulled herself away from Izo, who just stood there. She walked over to Father, trembling, from more than just the cold. One hand hovered in front of her face, and she seemed to be holding her breath.

Father lead Mother towards their hippogriffs, not looking back nor allowing to let her do so. He did not seem to care that the king, queen, and prince should have mounted up first as he helped Mother on her stead.

Takashi next to her shifted on his feet, taking Hikari by the hand and pulling her towards her stead like Father had with Mother. The king with the queen cut in front of them to help the queen up on her stead second. Had Takashi not taken her away from Izo and helped her mount up, she was certain she would have run over to Izo and punched him with all the fury her boiling blood demanded.

Once everyone was ready, she stole a glance back over at Izo. He stood there stoic and still, arms crossed over his chest. It was not like him to not care. She saw him turn back, quickly striding back in the direction of his tent.


	108. Chapter 108

Hikari did not much mind all the trekking and camping when they headed back to Alaric Castle. Takashi seemed exhausted by it, grumbling about how sore he was. He certainly needed to toughen up. He was better than the queen was though, who needed help getting down from her hippogriff to limp away to her fancy tent. Mother had been struggling in the cold, but once they got farther south and the weather was milder, she seemed a bit hardier. The king was about the same as Mother. Father thrived in it, more than Hikari had. Even Maiha, who decided to stay with Hikari as a representative from the North, was handling the cold rather well.

In the trekking, Hikari kept dwelling about Izo, trying not to. She missed him, but did not want to admit it since it would seem like a weakness and she was not weak. Mother had picked up on her melancholy, talking to her privately in her and Maiha's tent the night they had left Izo behind, trying to explain why he ditched them to stay behind. He did it to represent her, taking Father's place. Yet there was also the risk of him becoming a fallen angel apparently, which made her nervous. She had seen Izo's eyes go black, which scared her. She hoped that the day when he fell never came, nor her own or Kaze's. She could not imagine having to kill either of her brothers should one of them fall.

Luckily at night, she did not have any nightmares about herself or one of her brothers falling. Partly because she was distracted by Takashi. They were engaged, would be married as soon as they arrived in the capital, so she did not understand why they needed to stay in separate tents. One of the king's servants took Izo's place in the prince's tent, much to her chagrin. She could not figure out a way to steal more than a moment with him for a kiss. More would have been preferable. When she tried to convince him to sneak off with her, he would decline, saying they could such things as that later. It frustrated her in a way that she could not explain.

When they reached the Alaric Castle, the queen and king seemed so relieved, as they had been traveling more than anyone else in their group. Mother was knackered too, but when Kaze found out she was back, she was all he wanted. She was exhausted herself, but willing enough to cuddle and spend time with him after the weeks of separation.

Hikari was surprised they stayed in the Alaric Castle for over a week, but the queen insisted she needed to rest up. Hikari found odd because she and her family were fine and recovered after two or three days resting.

At least she figured out a way to get the prince alone, since he slept in a bedroom by himself, just like she did.

She snuck into his bedroom not the first night as she suspected her father might watching, nor the second, but the third night she braved it.

She 'went to bed early' that night, claiming she was tired. She went to her bedroom to change into her pajamas, but then slipped into Takashi's room, waiting impatiently for him. She felt nervous as she laid herself down under his covers. His blankets were thicker than hers. He could hardly think that Alaric was cold, especially since he had experienced the true cold of the far north. She waited for him to get himself to the room. She lay on top of the blankets, nuzzling the pillow beneath her.

She must have dozed off because he was standing over her prone form. "What are you doing here?" he asked her, standing next to the bed.

She sat up, stretching her arms over her head. "Are you scared or shy?" she asked coyly, even though her own pulse was racing.

"I..." he tried to speak.

"Both?" she asked. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, letting them dangle, toes barely scuffling the stone floor. "Did you lock the door?" she asked, cocking her head curiously to one side.

He looked back over at the door, moving his mouth, but not saying any words. She got off of the bed, slipping around him without touching him. He had not locked the door. She locked the door. The room was so quiet that they both could hear the lock click resound. She turned around, approaching him. He had turned to face her, but did only that. It was like he was frozen in time. She stood in front of him, reaching her hands up to his shoulders and raising herself up to her tip toes. She kissed him fully, even as he stayed frozen. He thawed out finally, melting against her. She slipped her tongue boldly into his mouth, which he gasped at.

She pulled away slowly, hands sliding down his arms to take his own hands in hers. She tried to turn him and pulled towards the bed with her.

That he resisted, letting her hands go. "What's wrong?" she asked, frowning up at him. She sat down on the bed, scooting back to face him, trying to tempt him.

"It's not you," he said, "It's just..."

"We've done a bit of this before," she said. She reached her hands down to the hem of her pajama top, pulling it up.

He was before her then, staying her hands. "Stop," he panted out. He closed his eyes. She stole another kiss with him so close.

"Do not tempt me," he breathed.

"We're engaged," she pointed out.

"But not yet wed," he countered.

She frowned, trying not to look angry with him. It made little sense to her. She felt an undesirable chill wash over her. "Just sleep side by side then?" she offered. He pulled away, face flushed. He stood stock still, frozen standing up straight. "If you want me to leave, open the door. If you want me to stay, come lay down next to me." She curled under the covers, hoping they would not be too warm for her.

"I... you hardly expect me to sleep in my clothes, do you?" he managed to tease out.

She laughed softly at his attempt at humor. "move quickly then," she told. "I am getting rather sleepy now."

He moved, unfrozen. She was disappointed though that he took his pajamas into the bathroom to change. He was quick to climb back into bed with her though, laying down next to her. She snuggled over to him, giving her a longing peck before laying her head down on his chest. She could feel his chest heaving and his heart racing. He was beyond tempting, making her wish their wedding could happen tomorrow...


	109. Chapter 109

Hikari found the trip from Alaric Castle down to the capital, Hayato City, a lot more pleasant than the trek they took far North. Mother and the queen managed it better. Even with Kaze in tow, the lot of them managed the journey easily, even if the queen had them set a slow pace.

Hikari shared a tent with Asa, even though she hardly saw the point considering the prince absolutely insisted she and him would do nothing much beyond kissing. In the evenings, Asa, Takashi, the king, and the queen kept telling her elvish culture and what to expect. Appearance were everything apparently, among other things. Look a certain way, present yourself a certain way, act a certain way. With her being part elvish and angelic, especially the angelic part, she had a role to play. She had been trained to fight all her life, it was her strength. She might be weaker than Izo, she was certainly stronger than the prince. They had fought together often enough to prove that. While the queen did not like that, Hikari was told to play off that; to be like an angelic warrior, even though she hardly felt like there was anything angelic about her. Kaze though, displayed it pretty clearly with his calm demeanor, especially for a child his age. Izo had a bit of it in himself, which became more obvious after his fight with Uncle Yusuke.

Izo... The thought of Izo made her soften. She missed him, wishing Maeshu would at least have let him travel down South to the capital for her wedding. Maeshu however insisted he must stay up North to represent her. If he left, it would be scene as him abandoning his post and his duty as her representative. Hikari wondered if she could convince the prince to go back up to the North with her to see him once they were married. They were supposed to go travel around the country on progress anyway so the people could see her and the prince as a happily married couple with hopes for the future for the dynasty prophesied over her maternal grandmother.

When they finally made it within two miles of the city's main gates, they stopped, and the prepping began. Takashi was next to her as she climbed off her hippogriff, explaining, "we need change clothes, so to look fresher than the others." He ran his hand through her short black hair. "I wish it were still longer. Elves prefer it long," he said longingly.

"I give up on it," she commented. After the last bit of its length was burned up after she fought with the wolf demon, she gave up on the idea of keeping it long. She resigned herself to short hair with singed ends.

Two tents were set up, one for her preparation, and one for Takashi's. The queen, Mother, Asa, and Maiha were in her tent helping her prepare, while the king, Father, and Uncle Yasha were in Takashi's tent. Takashi and she were to enter the city in the front of their procession, in an image of strength, love, and power as a newly engaged couple. The queen fussed over her, especially her hair. She trimmed off the singed ends, making her hairline ring stylishly around her jaw and top of her neck. It felt nice now, but Hikari knew the once it gained an inch or two, long enough to hit the base of her neck and she fought, it would burn up at the ends again.

After her hair was trimmed, Asa twisted two narrow parts of it from the front of her face into tiny, intricate French braids that wrapped around her head and met at the back. It was tight, almost painfully so since her hair was short, but she managed to have braids, which elves liked, and her ears which were hardly pointed, stayed covered. She touched the braids delicately, wondering how they looked. Mother passed her the queen's hand mirror so she could see it. While the skin by her hairline was a bit pink, she like the crown like look of the braids. She was to look like a warrior angel, which was achievable in image at least for now. The king had told her people would need to see her fight one day soon so she could show off her fire dragon and skills. She looked forward to that day.

Next, the three of them carefully helped her changed into the new tunic that was made for her in the Alaric Castle before they left there. It was femininely cut, but matched the one the prince would be wearing. She liked the hunter green and black colors, the royal house colors. They suited the prince better than her, which made her look forward to seeing him in it.

The queen came up to her face now, using her own make up on her, even though the queen was darker in complexion than she was. Hikari disliked the unfamiliar-ness of it on her face, especially around her eyelashes, but she let it slide. If she was going to marry the crown prince and one day be his queen, then she would have to grow used to wearing it everyday. Maybe the queen could teach her something useful for once...

When she was finally ready, the four of them stepped outside the tent. She saw the others around them, but only had eyes for Takashi. He looked... handsome... with his hair matching hers, but his long honey blonde hair falling over his shoulders. She had not thought about how he looked before, being more attracted to his strength and will more than anything else. It was an odd thing to flare up in her. She felt tempted to step up over to him to kiss him. She gave into the desire, shuffling over to him quickly before the queen could stop her in case she ruined her hair or make up. He at least kissed her back, but avoided touching her hair.

Takashi pulled away from her when they both heard the king clear his throat. He did not quite let her go though as he guided her over to her hippogriff and helped her up onto it's back. He smiled up at her, a smoldering look in his eyes. She liked that on him. It made her want to jump off her stead and kiss him all over again.

Instead he stepped away, mounting his own stead and bringing himself up along side her. "Time to head into the city," he told her quietly. She gaped at him, feeling her mouth suddenly go dry. "It'll be quite alright," he reassured her. "Smile, wave, look towards me if you get too nervous," he suggested.

They both looked up as the king called for everyone else to mount up and ready themselves. Hikari sat up straight, staring steadily ahead. They were going to lead the procession into town, instead of the king and queen. That was because they were the future king and queen of the nation. She felt a chill go down her spine at the idea of all the those people about to stare at her. She looked over at Takashi, feeling calmer when she watched him. He looked regal, handsome, confident... She felt like she looked like a clumsy half child next to him.

They stopped at the main city gate. Hikari feeling the urge to fidget with something, anything. She fidgeted with the ends of the reins around her fingers, hands low enough that no one else would be able to see her to do that. They went into the city.

Her first thought was not to gape opened mouth. Her second thought was... big... and tall... There buildings and people and noise and everything everywhere. The hills rolled up and down endlessly. It had to be bigger than the village near Alaric Castle times a hundred or more. It was loud, with her hearing people and seeing people cheering, staring up at her. She sat up straighter, making herself smile a little to look pleasant. She looked over Takashi, who was riding steadily next to her, cool and confident. She felt jealous of his ease. She tried to mimic his confidence.

Then he smiled broadly, waving at the crowd as they passed them. She mimicked him. He moved his stead as close to hers as possible, their legs rubbing against one another. He grabbed her hand mid wave, pulling it over to his mouth and giving it a kiss. She gave him a true smile at the silliness of that. He clasped her hand tightly in his raising it up as high as she could reach. The crowd around them roared louder. The sound was almost deafening to her. She smiled opening now, looking over at him. She had stopped fidgeting, but was rather holding the reins tight and still.

Then her hippogriff stumbled, making her lurch. Takashi let her hand go and helped to right her. He laughed, giving her hair a soft, affectionate ruffle. She smiled up at him, sitting up straighter.

It seemed like it took hours to get to the royal palace on the highest hill. When they made it through the gates, they both stopped. He was off his stead quickly and was over to hers no time. She took his hand and allowed him to help her slip carefully off her stead. She raised herself up on her tip toes, kissing him before he could stop her. She felt thrown off when cheers went up at her action. She froze, almost pulling away. He cupped her face with his hands, keeping her kissing him. It made her almost want to purr. He let her face go and pulled her into his arms, hugging her affectionately. More cheering, much to her surprise. He pulled away and stood next to her, hand in hers.

She looked up, over at the crowd. So many people... more than she had ever seen at once before. She closed her eyes, catching her breath. She opened her eyes and looked over at him. He was in his element, born to do this. She was not, but determined enough to be if she had him by her side. Together they could do this.


	110. Chapter 110

Hikari felt like it was the day was taking forever, even if it was about her and Takashi. The wedding had started in the early morning with preparation, preparation, preparation. She felt exhausted by just the end of that bit. Then they had to go for the ceremony.

The ceremony took place at the enormous church near the palace. She felt so rushed by it, as they had only practiced it once because the wedding had took place three days after they arrived at the capital. The queen had planned it all, which explained why it was so gaudy and over the top. Father had bristled at it, walking her down the aisle of the church.

When the ceremony started, she had rehearsed it once with Takashi and been lectured about what was going to happen in step of the convoluted process, but she still felt so lost in the hour long process. At least she got to sit down next to Takashi for part of it, which she was grateful for since the dress she wore was this the heavy, lacy thing she was corseted into. She sat next to him, trying not to fidget with the fully crowded church watching the two of them. She looked up at the priest before them, trying to look like she was paying attention, even though she had no clue what was going on as he was speaking a dead language over them now.

Until she saw Takashi stand up. She stood up with him, knowing this was the end of this whole ceremony. She did her best to recite the vows fed line by line to her by the priest. Takashi seemed to say them better than she did, which made her a little jealous, but proud of him. The ring exchange was the easiest part. When they got to the kiss, she was ready for that part. He bent down in time with her rising up on her tiptoes, kissing each other. It was probably one of the best kisses he ever gave her, with cheers in the background making it even better.

Then they walked down the aisle together as a married couple, which made her smile genuinely and broadly. She would have much prefer it be over then and there, but then another processional, this time in an open carriage through most of the city. Takashi enjoyed it, but she felt worn out from all the smiling and waving by the time they reached the royal palace.

It was a rush then in the palace to sit in the banquet hall for a dinner with some many guests that she had trouble spotting her family in the crowd. When the meal was served to her and Takashi first, she realized how starved she felt. She ate as quickly as she could with composure for fear she would ruin the dress she was in.

She felt relieved when she finally finished the meal and could take a breath and relax next to her new husband. She looked forward to when the meal was over and the two of them could excuse themselves from everyone else, even if she was dreading the bedding ceremony Asa had warned her about it.

She thought about the other things Asa had talked with her about, having 'the birds and bees' talk left to her. She looked over at Takashi, wanting to skip to the end of the night for that.

Takashi was loving living in this moment, soaking up every minute of it. Everyone who seemed to come up to the two of them to speak and congratulate the two of them, he knew them by name and greeted them like an old friend. She was happy enough to sit next to him and let him lead in the conversation and she pretended to follow it.

She jumped though when the musicians set up and the dancing was announced. Takashi was ecstatic, snagging her hand and yanking her up to follow him. He was beyond excited for that, guiding her through dancing through many songs that she was breathless. She knew she could take him in a fight, but he was the king on the dance floor. Her knees ached by the time they were done. He was equally as breathless to her by the end of it. He was sweating and flushed. She liked the sight of it, wanting to see it all for herself though.

Once the last song finally finished, she stepped over to Takashi, saying softly, "I'm tired." He smirked down at her for that. "Not tired like that," she back pedaled.

"Oh. Oh," he said. The musicians started another song, a bawdy and upbeat one.

"You can keep dancing," she suggested, "but I need a minute to sit down."

He bent down and gave her a lingering kiss. "Take all the time you need." He called over to his friends dancing in the crowd, moving towards them.

She happily went back over to her seat at the head table. She slumped in the chair as best she could in the corset around her waist. The queen wore one of these everyday, but it seemed so impractical. Hikari would never be able to fight in anything like this. Some of the elvish culture seemed a little backwards at times. She watched Takashi enjoying himself, surprised at how much energy he still had left. A servant went past her, offering her a drink, which she took gratefully. She took a large swig from it.

She sensed someone moving towards her. She looked up and saw Mother approaching her. She smiled softly as Mother sat down next to her. "Tired already?" Mother asked just loud enough to be heard over the music.

Hikari smiled at that. "Since this morning," she answered pleasantly. "Where are Father and Kaze?" she asked curiously, scanning the crowd for them.

"Your father took your brother to bed, both would be hardly suited to all this music and dancing," Mother commented.

Hikari took a sip of her drink. "Father refused any dancing at your wedding, isn't that right?"

Mother nodded. "Even after the prince pouted at him for it," she reminisced.

Hikari looked over the grandiose wedding party going on that hardly looked like there was signs of stopping. "Maybe we should have had a private, country bumpkin wedding instead. Secret garden style."

Mother half hummed, half laughed. "Surprise the bride kind?"

Hikari laughed at that, having heard that story several times over the course of growing up. "You didn't..." she started. She lowered her voice. "You didn't have a bedding ceremony...?" she flushed crimson after asking it.

Mother shook her head. "I can't imagine your Father allowing such a thing. If anyone so much as touched me, they would not live to see the end of the night. The prince on the other hand..." she mused. "Asa went over it with you. Just keep in good spirits about it. The men who will corral you up to the bedroom won't hardly do anything beyond make fun jokes and jostle you around a little. Same with the women who will corral him up to the bedroom."

Hikari heaved a sigh. "It'll be... okay?" she flushed anew, but felt the need to ask the question.

Mother smiled down at her sweetly. "You love him and he loves you, so of course it'll be okay," she soothed. Mother reached her hand over, smoothing Hikari's hair affectionately. Hikari turned towards her, moving over to hug her. Mother stood up and hugged her back. "Just be sure to weather the storms together, not separately," she advised.

The music stopped playing and Hikari stepped away from Mother. The king of all people stood up from his seat near Hikari's, drink in hand. "A toast to the happy couple!" The king drank to that, so Hikari lifted her drink in response, draining the rest of it. His speech was a little slurred. "But the night's not over for them yet. A wedding isn't complete without a bedding!"

Hikari sat her glass down on the table, feeling suddenly and unbelievably nervous. She reached over for Mother, but then pulled her hand back.

"Yasha?" Mother asked as Yasha playfully shoved Mother out of his way.

Yasha seized Hikari's hand, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder quite unexpectedly. "I think you'd both prefer I carried her upstairs over another gentleman." Louder, he shouted out, "better get him up there ladies, or there will be nothing left for you, nephew!"

Yasha moved swiftly through the crowd. A few other men came after them, Hikari recognizing a few of them, but her stomach was squabbling too much for her to remember their names. She was in Takashi's bedroom, which he would now share with her. The room was voluminousness, at least four times the size of her room at home... at the Alaric Castle. This was home now, she reminded herself. The priest from earlier stood by the bed piously.

Yasha shoved her playfully towards the new bed delivered earlier today. Three curtains surrounded the bed, with the head of the bed firmly against the wall. "How hard would it be to get that dress off of you?" He stepped towards her, but she rounded on him, raising her fist in the air. "Got a feisty one here. My nephew better be careful or he'll be the one bleeding tonight."

Hikari felt herself flush temperamentally, trying to resist the urge to punch him in the jaw. She was luckily distracted by Takashi coming into the room surrounded by a few women, which made her feel a flare of jealousy. His hair was disheveled and his belt was missing. Two of the buttons from his shirt were undone. She looked behind him, trying to see if one of those women still had his belt in hand. She stepped towards him, trying to see around him.

Instead he caught her up in his arms. Him touching her like that she did not mind one bit. Not caring for a second that the room had other people in it, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He picked her up under her arms. Boldly, she jumped up, wrapping her legs around his arms. He walked her over to the bed.

She was certain he would have laid her down then and there, but the priest held his arm out. He took some kind of golden ladle like thing, splashing a few droplets of water over the bed. Once he was done, he left the room with a quick bow to Takashi.

Takashi resumed walking, laying her down on the edge of the side of the bed with him on top of her. She gasped when she felt something hard rub against her center. He kept kissing her, nuzzling her face over and kissing against her neck. His hands fumbled down around her waist, as if he was trying to yank the dress off of her.

She squirmed beneath him, trying to sit up long enough to get her hands behind her back to get at the corset encasing her. She paused, glimpsing that only the priest had left the room, but everyone else was still in there. She leaned her mouth down to his ear, whispering only loud enough for him to hear, "make them leave."

He matched her move, mouth against her ear. "Crown prince. Needs witnesses, remember," he explained. "We can close the curtains." She whined under her breath. She shook her head. He looked down at her, grumbling under his breath. "I'll send them away if one or two of them can see the sheets afterwards." She frowned at that suggestion, but nodded. Better than having them all in the room. He snuck his hand over to his shirt buttons, undoing a three more of them. He did the same with the button of his pants. He turned his head and upper body to look over at the others in the room. "I think we've got it from here," he called over. "You're all dismissed. I'll call you back when we're finished."

"But your grace," one of the women in the crowd started.

Hikari looked around him, shooting Yasha a pleading look. Yasha took it, teasing, "I think someone has some performance anxiety." He caroled the others towards the door. "When he needs help, he can shout for me."

Takashi stood up, caroling them all towards the door. Yasha stopped him, bending down to whisper something in in Takashi ear. Whatever Yasha said, Takashi blushed crimson.

When the lot of them had left the room, Hikari laid her head down on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought they would leave once we laid down?"

Takashi was trying at her dress again. He rolled her over, pulling at the strings of her corset, making them tighter at first, then looser. "Sometimes people watch. My parents were watched. Doesn't need to happen all the time though." He had the dress and corset loose enough for him to pull it off of her now, which he extracted her from with haste. She heard something rip in the process.

She gasped, rolling over, and feeling herself shiver in a way that had nothing to with feeling cold. He pressed himself down on top of her. She pulled his mouth over to hers, kissing him with abandon. She stuck her hands between them, undoing the last of his buttons and pulling to get his shirt off. He had an undershirt on that she rolled up. He sat up just long to pull that off himself. He was back down to her without a second's delay. His mouth roamed down to her neck though, kissing and even licking her there. She felt herself flush, body feeling warmer.

He kissed and licked down to her chest. He sat up, pulling her up with him. He turned to sit on the bed, beckoning her to sit on his lap. She did so readily. One of his hands snaked into her hair, another on her waist, fiddling with the hem of her panties. She felt a sudden urge to take them off. He pulled his mouth away, looking her in the eyes. His hand in her hair moved down to cup her face, thumb caressing her lower lip. He bent his head down, kissing and licking at her exposed chest, making her wish she was a little more busty.

He muttered something under his breath, before picking her up and standing up with her. He was panting, drawing deep, audible breaths. He laid her down on her back, trembling hands pulling her panties down and off of her. He pushed her legs apart gently. She felt her breathing speed up in time with his. His hands came down to his pants. She closed her eyes to ready herself mentally. Asa had told her about this part. How it would hurt and she would likely bleed, but it would get more enjoyable as time went on.

She gasped loudly when she felt something soft, warm, and wet touch her between her legs. She opened her eyes, seeing him use his mouth on her, licking her over and over. She was not expecting it. She shook, not sure what he was doing or why. She gasped louder, more fully, which seemed to spur him on. She tried to speak over and over again with every breath, but could not form words, only noises she had never made before. She liked it, but did not think she could take much more of it. She whimpered, hands coming to his hair, tugging on handfuls of it.

"S... st.. sto... stop..." she managed to pant out.

He sat up and pulled back from her. She felt cold when he did, almost making her wish she had not said anything. He pulled a bit of the blanket she laid on top of over to his mouth and wiped it. He stood up, hands on his pants, pulling them and his own underwear down and off. She could not make herself look at anything but his face. She nodded her head, feeling herself overheating all over again. He climbed back down onto to the bed over top of her. She nodded her head over and over again, feeling her chest heave.

Then he finally pushed himself inside of her and brought his weight down on top of her. She bit back a scream, clinging to him when she felt like she would much rather shove him off and away. He panted and moaned against her neck, moving back and forth and top of her.

It hurt nearly unbearably at first, but the pain and burning dulled as he went. She felt a new burning, a burning desire come over her. She pushed up on his shoulders. He paused, looking nervously at her. Shakily, she guided him to lay down on his back. Before she could lose heart, she jumped on top of him, like she had so many times before when they were fighting, but this time was different. She slipped him back inside of her, wincing. It hurt more now, making her regret letting him out of her in the first place. She moved shallowly up and down over top of him, which from the looks of his face, he seemed to like. The less it burned, the deeper she let him go. His thighs shook beneath her, but she kept pushing herself to move on him. His hands gripped her hips, gently at first, but harder as he hissed through his teeth. Then he screamed unexpectedly, went rigid, and relaxed under her.

She slipped off of him laying on the bed next to him, closed her eyes, and felt the overwhelming desire to fall asleep then and there. He rolled over to her, kissing her gently. He brought a bit of the blanket between her legs, wiping it over her. She opened her eyes and looked over at him questioningly. He held up the bit of the blanket, cleaning himself off as well. She rolled over and groaned, just wanting to sleep.

He pulled the blanket out from under here, with her moving away just enough for him to take the blanket away. She dozed off, only half caring to notice him pulling his pants back on and taking the blanket to the door. When he opened the door, she did look up, seeing him hand it over someone outside the door. He shut the door and came back over to her.

"It might get a little chilly in here tonight," he warned teasingly. We ruined the blanket instead of the sheet like we were supposed to." He laughed at his joke.

She punched him playfully in the chest. Then she pulled him down to her and kissed him. "You're not funny," she teased right back.


	111. Chapter 111

Three days after the wedding, the king called for another tournament to be held. Hikari had tapped her foot anxiously when she heard that announcement. This was her chance to prove to herself as a 'warrior angel' to her new people. A chance to prove she had been a good match for Takashi and would be a good queen next to him one day.

When the tournament was decided, it was ruled the king and Takashi would be the first pair to fight, but Hikari and Mother were locked in as the second pair to fight each other. Everyone was who chose to enter the tournament would get a say in choosing their opponent in the same manner they did the tournament back in Gandara years ago a la trading tokens to fight style. It pained Hikari to think about that because that was back when she and Izo fought together in front of the crowd.

Hikari stood near Mother near the arena where the king and prince were about to fight. She watched their fight eagerly, wanting Takashi to win. They had enjoyed each other's company early last night, hoping for the both of them to get a good night's sleep on top of it. She thought about last night, how she finally realized how enjoyable being married could be. She felt her blood was up watching him getting ready to fight.

Takashi stood in the arena with the king, a bit stiff from what she could tell. He had been trained by Father along side her, so he had to be a better fighter than he had been all those years ago in Gandara where his father defeated him easily. The king flicked his wrist, summoning up a bow almost as big as he was. Takashi summoned up his own, albeit smaller bow as well. When the queen stood up from her box in the stands and clapped, the fighting began. Both Takashi and the king took aim and shot at each other on one hand, and dodged each other on the other. Arrows flew so fast around the arena Hikari could hardly keep track of where each one landed. She and Mother backed up a bit on the grounds to avoid being hit. So did other fighters waiting their turn to fight around them.

It seemed like the volleying of arrows would never end, until the king finally caught the Takashi in his left hand with an arrow, making him lose his conjured up bow. Takashi brought his hand to his chest, scowling. He wrapped his right hand around his left hand. The king stood and looked over at him, smirking. He shook his own bow away. The arena around them was peppered with tiny holes from the arrows. Takashi looked flustered, but determined. He took a few deep, steadying breaths. He drew his sword, an intricately carved, leaf like blade. The king looked him over, cracked his neck, and drew his own sword. A blade just as large and formidable as he was. Takashi was going to have to be careful facing off with a blade like that. She hoped all his training with Father with a sword would pay off. She wanted him to win.

The king charged towards Takashi this time, large sword held up high. Takashi took a defensive, one Hikari saw Father had taught him. He brought his sword up just in time when the king's sword swung down at him. The two elvish blades meet each other in the air with a roaring clang. Both of them pushed against the other. Hikari saw Takashi's arms were shaking. She frowned, internally willing him to push back harder.

He did not. Instead, the king pushed down, shoving both swords off to Takashi's right side. Takashi jumped back, pausing turned hesitating. The king came at him again, but this time Takashi was able to get himself to move faster. The two of them engaged in swordplay. The king had the upper hand, but Takashi was not as slow as the king seemed to expect. Father's training had come in handy after all.

Takashi held his own, but even as the minutes passed, he was dripping with sweat. He met each swung and arc the king dealt him, but also dealt his own swings and arcs in turn. Hikari smirked to herself when she saw him duck around the king's latest swing, bring his own blade up, and swing the blade down towards the king's neck and chest. If it was allowed to be, it could be a killing blow. At the last possible second though, the king caught the sword in his left hand. He flinched when the blade bit into his palm, but he held Takashi's sword anyway. The king wrapped his hand around the blade, yanking it from Takashi's grip. He tossed it away, seeming unperturbed by his bleeding hand. He rounded on Takashi, bringing his foot up and kicked him hard in the chest. Takashi was knocked down to the ground, fuming. Hikari frowned when the king planted his foot on Takashi's chest and rested his own blade against Takashi's neck.

"Dead," the king announced boldly. He sheathed his sword, stepped off of Takashi, reached down, and hauled him back up on his feet. He gave a hardly laugh, ruffling his hand through Takashi's hair.

"He should have won," Hikari muttered, disappointed.


	112. Chapter 112

Takashi had enjoyed his fight with his father, even if he had lost. He was supposed to lose anyway, as the current king could not seem weaker than the future king. That would be shameful. He did like how he got quite close to winning though. He almost got a 'kill' with his sword before his father caught it. While he might have been defeated like that, it was a good way to go out.

Instead of returning to the royal box to watch the remaining matches with his father and mother, he opted to stay on the side lines and watch Hikari battle the angel. He wanted to see his new wife win the fight. There were no limitations on her to lose the match on purpose somehow like there had been with him. An angelic battle with an unclear outcome would be exciting to watch. Almost as exciting as last night had been for her. When Uncle Yasha had mentioned, 'women liked to be licked,' to him, he was not quite sure what that meant. Last night made him understand it a lot better.

He shook his head, looking over at the arena where the angel and Hikari entered together. He noticed how old the angel was looking, much to his surprise. She had been young looking all those years ago when she rescued him from the dire wolf pack, but now she looked almost middle age like a human would. Up close, the few specks grey in her hair was noticeable upon scrutiny, but from this far away, he could not tell. Hikari next to her looked timeless and fearless. Takashi wondered who could win considering Hikari's father was in charge of training her and her twin brother.

Both women stood on either side of the arena, facing one another. Mother's clap ringed out over area, allowing the two to commence in their fight. The angel summoned up her wind dragon around her neck, wind whipping out around her. Hikari mirrored her, fire dragon burning around her neck. She tapped her neck as a few stray hair at the end of her jaw line began to burn up. He wished she could grow it out longer, but with an angelic weapon like that, he realized it was too difficult. No wonder she had given it up.

The angel summoned her wind dragon up into an ax, holding it out steady. Hikari took her fire dragon, concentrating to make it into twin sabers, matching her balanced fighting style. Hikari claimed she was just right handed, but with a blade in each hand, Takashi had wondered if she was ambidextrous than she realized. Even with just fists, she never really favored one hand over the other. She was breathing a little heavier though, with splitting her fire dragon across her body. Takashi recalled her father had trained her to do that in solo sessions as often as possible to build up her stamina for it. She held both blades up, taking a fighting stance.

Both Hikari and the angel charged towards the middle of the arena and towards each other. The met closer to the side that Hikari came from, three conjured blades clashing against each other with a loud, electric clang. Both of Hikari's sabers were blocked by the larger ax held sideways by the angel. Energetic sparks danced between the three conjured weapons. The angel pushed down against Hikari, using her height to her advantage. Hikari backed up, sabers sliding downwards against the ax. The angel swung her ax towards her with angelic grace. Hikari blocked with one blade and tried to swing with the other. The angel was too quick for her. She had to block more often than parry.

Hikari growled loudly, frustrated. When she got frustrated when fighting, she got bolder, which made Takashi nervous considering those were potentially deadly weapons they were fighting with. Hikari blocked once more, but instead of charging forward to parry, she dropped. She crouched low on the balls of her feet, summoned away the blade in her left hand, and tackled the angel by the shins. The angel went down, tripped up by the sudden move, but did not stay down for long. She gave Hikari a swift kick in the shoulder, shoving her off her lower legs.

The angel scrambled up and launched herself in the air, dragon wings on her back, before Hikari could get at her again. Once the angel was high enough in the air, she leaned her hands over her knees, panting. Hikari ran underneath where her mother hovered, looking up at her predatorily. She paced around the vicinity. The angel would have to come down sometime. She held up a saber in just her right hand now, either too tired to have two anymore or wanting to save energy by just only having one. The fight was not over yet. One way or another the angel would have to come back down to the ground.

Hikari fumed, getting impatient. She summoned up her fire dragon into its main form now, which was just over half her size. The angel's and her brothers had been the size of large beasts, bigger than horses. Takashi recalled her father also tried to push for her to make her dragon bigger and bigger, and half her size was the best result. Hikari tried to mount it anyway, but it did not work. She shouted in frustration, telling the angel come back down and fight. The angel straightened up and did just that.

The angel dropped to the ground at a distance from Hikari, dragon full sized in front of her now. Hikari's dragon looked like a miniature in comparison. She had slim to no chance against her mother like that. She tried anyway, much to her determination. She summoned up her own dragon, running recklessly towards the angel, dragon first. Her dragon met her mother's head first, colliding with it. Both of them held their hands out, pushing their dragons to gain ground against the other fighter. The wind dragon held the fire dragon back, scratching and attacking it. The fire dragon scrambled to fight, but to no avail. The angel took trudging steps forward, forcing Hikari to walk back, even as she dug her heels into the ground. Both as them shouted, spurring their dragons on. Hikari was still being shoved back, with the angel still shoving forward. She stumbled, trying to keep herself standing up straight. The angel's wind dragon roared, doubling its effort to shove the fire dragon away. It was the last charge that did Hikari in.

Hikari had reached the edge of the arena, but clearly had not realized that in her effort. The angel and her wind dragon shoved her off the edge, sending her tumbling to the ground behind her. Hikari huffed on the ground, shouting and pounding against the ground in frustration. The angel dropped to her knees when she stood, hands coming to the ground like an after thought. She panted heavily, face sheen with sweat. She summoned her wind dragon away with a wave of her hand.

In a surprising move, Hikari was up on her feet and scrambled back into the arena. At first Takashi thought she was going to attack the angel, but rather she bent down and hugged her mother. Her quick movements threw the angel off balance, sending both of them onto their sides in the arena. The angel laughed first, joyously. Hikari was quick to follow suit.


	113. Chapter 113

Hikari watched the next set of the tournament up in the royal box with Mother, Kaze sitting by Mother's feet with toys to occupy his attention, Takashi, Uncle Yasha, and the king and queen. She felt exhausted after fighting Mother, but had hardly needed a healer. Surprisingly Yukina, who was an aunt of sorts, had come to her and Mother to check her over. Hikari overheard Yukina asking Mother a series of questions about Brother. She seemed concerned that he stayed up in the North with the demons as Hikari's representative, even though Mother reassured her Brother could handle himself.

Hikari sat next to Takashi, watching the fights, waiting impatiently for the fight Father would have. He was lined up to fight right before Uncle Kurama with another elf. At first Father was supposed to fight Uncle Kurama, but he was relieved when another fighter, a younger cocky looking one, switched him out. Hikari felt disappointed she would not see a match between the two of them.

Hikari looked over at Mother sitting next to Uncle Yasha. She looked a bit worn out from their fight, more so that Hikari had. "Mother," Hikari said. Mother looked up at her and hummed to show she was listening. "Who's more likely to win in a match? Father or Uncle Kurama?"

"Well, your father-" Mother started.

"He's not your uncle," Takashi cut in.

Hikari looked at him, startled. She frowned at him, but kept speaking to Mother. "They've fought together before, but never against each other in the fighting pits. Who was stronger back then?"

Mother looked back towards her. "I'm not sure," she answered. "Your father did once say he was glad he never had to fight your uncle in the fighting pits. Your father won't give up that easily, but neither will your uncle."

"How can he be your uncle? He's not related to you," Takashi pressed.

Hikari felt her temper want to pick up, but Uncle Yasha spoke up before anyone else could. "Those who survive the fighting pits like we three did back in the day went through our own personal hells and back. Those that that had to fight their way out of debt more so than others. That kind of bond grows deeper than kinship, deeper than blood. Her counting of him as an uncle is more accurate than you realize."

Takashi huffed, "that's not what the term means though. He's more likely my uncle than hers anyway since the two of you ought to have been married by now."

Hikari felt tension build in the area. Uncle Yasha laughed, "that could happen, but isn't what we want. It's not for everyone. Let your wife count him, me, or anyone she wishes as uncle. All of them have treated her parents better than her Mother's uncle ever did."

Takashi huffed once more, but did not speak again, much to Hikari's relief. She noticed Mother gave Uncle Yasha a grateful look.

Hikari turned her gaze away from them and to the arena now. She watched Father and his opponent, some other elf she vaguely recognized from the castle together, climb into the arena and separate to opposite sides, much how Mother and she had earlier. She leaned forward, watching curiously. The queen clapped once, announcing that the fight could commence. Hikari brought her hands together softly between her legs, wondering but not wanting to wonder when she could be in charge of that clapping one day.

Father drew his sword, with the elf across from him doing the same. The elf's sword looked cheaper and of lower quality than Father's sword did. The two ran towards each other, meeting in the middle with blades clashing. Hikari frowned, wondering why Father would go so slow in a fight. She wondered if he was just assessing the elf with him, to get a measure of him first before ending the match swiftly. At one point Father all but stopped. The elf managed to catch him with a thin slice across the chest with his lower quality blade, barely making Father bleed. The elf looked surprised to have been given a chance at a lucky shot only to have it be such a disappointing one. Father easily disarmed him and shoved him down. The elf did not even bother to stand up or retrieve his sword after that. Father sheathed his own sword and left the arena without hardly breaking a sweat. He waltzed away into the stands, likely coming up to join them.

"That was boring," Takashi griped. Hikari nodded in agreement.


End file.
